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  • Ivan

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  • Roy

    6 11.32%
  • Marco

    1 1.89%
  • Yotam

    3 5.66%
  • Keichii

    15 28.30%
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Thread: [FanFic] A Hunter's Story

  1. #1
    Mushmom XxKiraYamatoxX's Avatar
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    Sword [FanFic] A Hunter's Story [PG]

    Disclaimer: MapleStory belongs to Wizet. I make absolutely no profit from this story whatsoever. However, I do own the concept of this story and some of the characters.

    Prologue

    "www.maplestory.com" the URL at the top of the Firefox browser read. A teenager roughly about 14 began typing a few words eagerly. "Login ID...... Password... Done!" he said triumphantly. "Ivan! It's bedtime!" a feminine voice called down. "Awww......" he sighed and turned off the computer, running upstairs. The computer emitted a small spark of light and settled down.

    Chapter 1 - The World Of MapleStory

    Somewhere on earth......

    Ivan rushed up the stairs, his mother yelling behind him, "Make sure you do your homework first!". Ivan replied, "Okay mum!" as he turned on the computer. He flashed back to the last day as he created an account on MapleStory. He couldnt wait to start playing. As the desktop appeared on his computer he clicked on an icon labelled "MapleStory". He waited as the screens rolled and typed in his login ID and password and clicked on "Login". Suddenly he felt as if he was being sucked into his computer screen. He started to yell but apparently no one could hear him. He wondered what was happening as he spiraled into unconsciousness......

    Ivan awoke on Maple Island an hour later, his head spinning. He looked around his surroundings and wondered, "Whats happened!?". As he started to look around, another boy jumped out of some bushes. "Boo!" The boy said, startling Ivan. "Waaa!" Ivan yelled as he stepped backwards and tripped. He landed on the grass, looking surprised.

    "Oh, I'm sorry if i scared you, i thought you were someone else."
    "Its ok, by the way, where are we?"
    "You mean you don't know? We're on Maple Island, the place where all beginners start out on their adventures."
    "Maple Island?"
    "Yeah!"

    Ivan gaped. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember anything about his past other than being sucked into his computer. He started to walk around with the boy as he showed him the parts of Maple Island. When they got to the snails, Ivan looked at them and asked, "We're supposed to fight those?". The boy replied, "Yeah, you're supposed to level up by fighting monsters and doing quests".

    "By the way, my name's Roy, whats your's?"
    "My name is Ivan. Nice to meet you."
    "Same to you. So what job are you planning to become?"
    "Huh?"
    "There are 4 main jobs, Magician, Bowman, Thief and Warrior. Magicians use magic, Bowmen use bows and crossbows while thieves can use either claws, daggers or cutters and warriors do more damage with their weapons, namely swords, axes, maces and hammers. I'm planning to become a thief."
    "Hmmmm, I guess I'll take the path of the bowman."
    "Oh, okay."

    The duo continued their journey through Maple Island, fighting monsters and doing quests as they progressed until both reached level 10 and were at Southperry. Ivan asked a passer by on how to change jobs as Roy listened.

    "How do i become a bowman?"
    "Go to Henesys and look for Athena Pierce, she'll direct you on the path to becoming a bowman."
    "And what about thieves?"
    "The Dark Lord at Kerning City will help you."
    "How can we get to the 2 cities?"
    "Take the ship to Victoria Island. Both cities are there."
    "Okay, thanks for your help."
    "No problem."

    They got on the ship to Victoria Island, paying 500 mesos. As they fell asleep in their bunks, Ivan tried to recall his past but failed. He eventually fell asleep after 10 minutes.

    Next morning......

    "Wake up, you sleepyhead!" yelled Roy. Ivan sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes. "Where are we?" he asked. "We've reached Victoria Island already!" Roy shook Ivan awake and both left the ship and stepped onto the shores of Lith Harbour. "So this is Victoria Island? Its so big......" Ivan said. "Yep, talk to that guy over there and he'll take you anywhere on the island. See you around, i'm heading to Kerning City, you should be going to Henesys, I'll join you there when i become a thief and get my equipment. I hear they have a great training ground." Roy replied as he disappeared into a taxi. Ivan decided to get on his way and left for Henesys. When he got there, he asked for directions to Athena Pierce's home and went there, hoping eagerly that she would let him advance. As he walked in her door, an orange mushroom suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked him. He fended it off without much of a problem. Athena came out of a separate room and said, "Nice work child, some people have been throwing those orange mushrooms in my door for a bit of a prank lately. So you want to make the job advancement as the bowman?". "Yes, i do." Ivan replied

    "Hmmmm......I can see it in your eyes......You will make a great bowman. I will allow you to make the job advancement."
    "Really? Thank you very much!"

    Ivan suddenly felt as though he had become stronger.

    "I have just given you a bit of my power. Now train hard and become stronger, my child."
    "I cant express how thankful i am towards you for letting me advance, Athena."
    "May the gods bless you on your journey."

    Ivan left Athena's home feeling much stronger. He then proceeded to the weapons and armour store to buy his equipment and left for the training ground to train. Roy met him there, twirling a throwing star on his finger.

    "I see you made the advancement."
    "Yeah, Athena was really nice."
    "By the way, did you buy any arrows? You cant fire a bow without arrows you know."
    "Oh crap i forgot! I'll go and buy some now."
    "No need, i bought some extra arrows just in case you forgot, here."
    "Thanks."
    "No problem."

    The duo formed a party and started training and becoming stronger......

    Chapter 2: Piggy piggy piggy

    Ivan concentrated his energy into his arrow, firing it at a weak spot on the orange mushroom and killing it. Beside him, Roy was throwing 2 Subi throwing stars at a time towards an orange mushroom. Ivan suddenly noticed an orange mushroom right behind Roy and fired two arrows at it, killing it with the second arrow. "Nice one." Roy said and threw 2 Subi throwing stars at an orange mushroom behind Ivan, killing it. "Same to you." Ivan replied as the 2 continued training. They got tired after a while and went back into Henesys to rest and have a little chat.

    "I'll log off soon, its getting late. Ivan, you should log off too."
    "Log off?"
    "Press the esc button on your keyboard and click quit game."
    "What esc button?"
    "Your keyboard doesn't have an esc button?"
    "What is a keyboard?"
    "Then......How can you even move?"
    "I got sucked into my computer when i first started up the game. Other than that, I don't remember anything else about my past."
    "How is that even possible!?"
    "I don't really know how it happened myself."
    "Hmmmmm......I'll go check up on it in the real world. In the meantime, why dont you explore the island? Make sure you don't go near the dungeon though, there are some pretty powerful monsters there. Normally a player would respawn at the nearest town if he or she were killed. But you're really in the game so I don't know what will happen if you die."
    "Waaaa......"
    "Okay, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
    "Okay......Bye."
    "Bye, make sure you DON'T die."
    "I will."

    Ivan waved as Roy disappeared. Ivan took a look at his surroundings and decided to explore the western area of Henesys. On the way, he saw new monsters and other high level characters. After walking for a while, he stopped to have a rest. "Man, the island sure is huge." He thought and started to wander around. He was suddenly teleported to the Pig Beach. He gaped at the number of monsters and decided he would train there instead. After training on the pigs for a while, another archer dropped down from above and started killing the pigs that Ivan was about to kill. He was the same level as Ivan but was using a crossbow, hence doing higher damage than Ivan.

    "Get out of the way, noob."
    "What the......Hey! Stop kill-stealing me!"
    "I got here first so the map is mine."
    "Can you please stop kill-stealing me?"
    "For some reason, i just don't like you, noob."
    "Stop calling me that! You're just the same level as me!"
    "But I've been playing this game longer, so that makes you a noob."
    "I told you, stop calling me that!"
    "Or what? You'll kill-steal me? Hahahaha!"
    "Grrrrrrr......"

    The newcomer, who's name was Yotam, was starting to get on Ivan's nerves. Suddenly, an armoured pig appeared out of nowhere and Yotam accidentally shot an arrow at it. The agitated armoured pig started chasing the two of them around the map. Both fired arrows at it, but to no avail. The arrows merely glanced off the armoured pig's iron armour. "Get off me, you stupid pig!" Yotam yelled and climbed up a rope. The pig decided it would rather go after Ivan than the hard-to-reach Yotam on the rope. It started to chase Ivan around the map. He yelled, "Get away from me!" and started running faster. All the time, Yotam was laughing at him from safety on the rope. Suddenly, Ivan tripped over a rock and fell over. The armoured pig loomed over him menacingly and prepared to stomp on him. He yelled, "NOOOOO!!!" and fired an arrow at the armoured pig. Surprisingly, the arrow exploded on the armoured pig, dispelling all its armour and stunning it. Ivan took the chance to kill it with a double shot. Yotam gaped and thought, "But......A normal archer wouldn't have been able to perform that skill......Thats a hunter skill......" He started to edge towards the exit portal and didn't notice a mob of ribbon pigs behind him. He took one look behind him and screamed, running away as fast as he could. Ivan was looking at his bow with a surprised (F6) expression on his face. He returned to Henesys afterwards, deciding he had had enough of pigs for the day. He went back to the training ground to train on orange mushrooms. He didn't notice that a tattoo of a dark dragon had just appeared on his back under his shirt.

    Meanwhile, at Athena Pierce's house......
    Athena suddenly sensed something as she was looking over a town map. "What was that?" She thought. "It's been a few years since the Dark Hadou first appeared...... No, its not the Dark Hadou...... Could it be? The legendary Dark Dragon? Hmmm......"

    Chapter 3: Stormy Clouds

    Ivan strung 2 arrows on his new bow and shot them at a green mushroom from a separate platform so that the green mushroom wouldn't be able to attack him. He was now able to find weak spots easier and with higher accuracy too. As he trained, a stranger wearing a scream costume approached him and said, "Beware, you are being watched.". Ivan turned around and watched him leave, thinking "Huh?". However, he forgot about it after a while and continued training. A pair of eyes was watching him silently as he trained from a bush. Ivan suddenly had a strange feeling that he was being watched and turned to look around. The person that was watching him retreated further back as Ivan scanned his surroundings. The newcomer began charging up his lightning bolts and prepared to attack Ivan with them. Ivan took the attack full force as he was completely unprepared and was thrown back.

    "Ouch! Who did that!?"
    "I did."

    The newcomer stepped out of the bushes, revealing a level 65 I/L Wizard equipped with a Thorns staff. He began charging up his lightning bolts again and attacked Ivan with them. He dodged the bolts but got burned on his left arm in the process. He flinched.

    "Why are you attacking me!?"
    "Because my master has ordered me to do so."
    "Who's your master!?"
    "That is one name which i cannot disclose."

    The newcomer, who's name was Marco, continued attacking Ivan as he tried to dodge the lightning bolts. Most of the time he managed to avoid it in time but he got hit quite a few times and was starting to get tired. Marco muttered a few magical words all of a sudden and froze Ivan's feet to the grass and charged up a huge lightning bolt. Ivan was terrified and tried to run away, but he couldnt because his feet were frozen. "Here it comes!" Marco said as he fired the bolt straight towards Ivan's head. Just when he thought it was the end for him, a White Knight jumped into the path and blocked the bolt with his shield. Marco took one look at the White Knight and cursed, he was level 100. Marco immediately teleported away. However, Ivan was considerably weakened. He fainted as the White Knight was walking towards him.Ivan awoke a few hours later in the White Knight's tent, feeling extremely weak. The White Knight looked over and said, "Ah, you're awake."

    "Uggghhhh......What happened?"
    "That bully Marco attacked you. You got hit quite a few times and fainted after a while. I carried you here to recover."
    "Thanks......"
    "No problem. By the way, my name is Keichii. What's your's?"
    "Ivan."
    "I see." Keichii started to bandage Ivan's wounds.
    "Ouch!"
    "Sorry."
    "It's okay."
    "Ummm......Whats with the tattoo?" Keichii had noticed the dark dragon tattoo.
    "What tattoo?"
    "This tattoo."

    Keichii grabbed a mirror and positioned it behind Ivan. He gaped as he noticed the tattoo. "What the......When did that get there!?" he gasped. Keichii tried to wash it off but the cloth he was trying to wash it with got a hole burnt in the middle of it. "Wow, I guess thats not your everyday run-of-the-mill tattoo." he remarked. Ivan tried rubbing it off and ended up with a scorched finger. "Ouch, here, use this." Keichii handed Ivan an All Cure Potion. As he drank it, the scorch mark disappeared. "Thanks, Keichii." Ivan said. "Oh please, call me Kei." Kei replied. Ivan smiled (F2 expression) and said, "Okay, Kei.".

    Chapter 4: The Awakening

    "Zzzzzzzzz......" Ivan dozed off on his relaxer chair as a female warrior slowly approached from behind. She quietly tied Ivan up, folded his chair up and put it in his bag. She walked towards Henesys dragging Ivan behind him. The bumps on the road woke Ivan up.

    "You're awake huh?"
    "Ouch......My head hurts......What the!? Why did you tie me up?"
    "The nice guy over there told me he'd pay me 100000 mesos if I tied you up and brought you to him. I'm gonna be rich!"
    "Why does he want me?"
    "I don't know and I don't care. I just want the money!"

    The female warrior continued to drag Ivan towards a tree. A mystic door suddenly appeared where she was standing and a male priest jumped out. "Do you have the money?" the female warrior asked. "No, i don't. I forgot to bring it along." the priest replied.

    "WHAT!? You don't have the money!?"
    "Yep, I don't."
    "Why you......"

    The female warrior drew her sword and prepared to attack the priest. "Oh yeah, I have a present for you." the priest said. "You do?" the warrior asked. "Yes. You get to go in with him! Muahahahaha!" the priest pushed the warrior and Ivan into the door that he had made, sealed it as they went in and walked away laughing.

    At Someone Else's House......
    The female warrior cut the ropes binding Ivan. He shook the ropes off and looked around for his bow, but it was gone along with all his arrows. "Where's my bow and arrows?" Ivan asked.

    "That priest probably took them."
    "Oh great......"
    "Sorry for tying you up like that. I had no idea he would trick me like that."
    "It's okay......"
    "Anyway, my name is Alexis. You?"
    "Ivan."
    "Nice name."
    "Thanks."

    Suddenly a giant orange mushroom came out of the door of a nearby house, yelling, "WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLEEP!?". Alexis screamed and leapt up a nearby rope, only to find it blocked by angry-looking armoured pigs. Ivan, however, was backing away from the giant mushroom. He reached to his back for his bow, grasping nothing. He cursed as the giant mushroom advanced on him. It jumped up all of a sudden, causing an earthquake. Ivan jumped just in time only to get bumped into by the giant mushroom, taking very heavy damage. He quickly swallowed a white potion. All he could do at the moment was try to dodge the earthquakes and hope that someone would come and rescue him. Meanwhile, Alexis was screaming, "HELP!!!" on the rope. The giant mushroom turned its attention to Alexis and produced another earthquake, causing the rope to sway to and fro. Alexis eventually fell off onto the ground and slipped into unconsciousness. Ivan ran to her side and checked her pulse. Luckily she was still alive. Ivan's eyes suddenly lit with a fierce black flame and he looked at the giant mushroom. It stopped as it noticed Ivan's eyes and took one jump back. "Just because you have those eyes doesn't mean that you are strong." the giant mushroom continued its advance. Ivan suddenly let loose a huge roar that rocked the ground way harder than the giant mushroom's earthquake and sprouted great black wings from his back and a long black tail too. The giant mushroom started to back away, edging towards its house. Ivan roared, "HOW DARE YOU HURT A YOUNG GIRL LIKE THAT!? I...WILL...MAKE...YOU...PPPAAAYYY!!!". With that a dark bow that appeared to be made out of mana appeared in his right hand and arrows made out of mana appeared in his left hand. "HURRICANE!!!" Ivan roared and fired hundreds of arrows at the giant mushroom at breakneck speed. "What......What is this......What is this power?" the giant mushroom trembled as the arrows flew towards it. Each and every single one of the arrows hit the giant mushroom's weak spots, dealing massive damage. The giant mushroom was dead before it hit the ground, dropping an Ilbi throwing star. Ivan had now reverted back to his original form. He limped over and picked up the throwing star, saying, "Victory...is.....mine......" and fainted. Keichii, who was watching the battle from a nearby tree, gaped at what Ivan had just did. "Ivan......" he mumbled as he slid down the tree to Ivan and Alexis, carrying the both of them back to Henesys.

    Chapter 5: Saevio

    Roy typed his Login ID and Password and logged onto MapleStory. Just as he appeared in the game, he noticed a White Knight carrying a Bowman and a female Warrior into Henesys. Recognizing the Bowman as Ivan, he quickly ran over and asked what happened. The White Knight said, "Oh, these 2 got into quite a bit of an intense fight and collapsed. I came across them and carried them back here." and continued into the potion shop. As Roy walked in he bumped into a female thief just walking out. "Oh, sorry." he apologized. "Its okay." the female thief, who's name was Afrodita, replied and walked away. Roy, in the meantime was looking at her with a "lovey" expression on his face. He continued into the potion shop while still looking at her and ran into the door, which the White Knight had closed behind him. Rubbing his ear, Roy opened the door and walked in. "10 white potions please." the White Knight was ordering some potions from the surprised shopkeeper. "Uhhhh...Sure. 300 mesos please." the shopkeeper said. "Shouldn't it be 3000 mesos?" the White Knight asked. "Oops, sorry, 3000 mesos please." the shopkeeper apologized hurriedly as the White Knight handed over 3000 mesos. "Thank you, please come again." the shopkeeper said. The White Knight looked at Roy and asked, "Mind, helping me out with the Warrior?" Roy replied, "Uhhh...Yeah, sure." and helped empty the contents of 5 white potions into the female Warrior's mouth while the White Knight did the same with Ivan. Both woke up and looked around. Ivan asked, "Whe...Where am I?". The White Knight replied, "You're in the Henesys potion shop, along with your girlfriend."

    Ivan: "Girlfriend?" Ivan looked at the female Warrior, who blushed.
    Keichii: "Yeah."
    Roy: "Someone mind telling me what's going on here?"
    Keichii: "Your friend here got into a battle with a giant mushroom."
    Ivan: "Did I?"
    Keichii: "Yeah, look in your pocket." Ivan looked in his pocket and found an ilbi throwing star.
    Roy: "Whoah, that's one heck of a rare throwing star!"
    Alexis: "That stupid priest.....Almost got me killed."
    Ivan: "I remember now, that priest kicked us into a magical door. The next thing I knew I was facing up that giant mushroom."
    Roy: "You mean...... YOU KILLED IT!?"
    Ivan: "Suddenly i slipped into semi-consciousness. I could see what was happening but i couldnt control it."
    Roy: "Wow."
    Keichii: "He grew wings and a tail, although they were gone after about 5 seconds. Also, he pulled off a pretty awesome skill."
    Ivan: "I remember yelling "HURRICANE!!!" then the giant mushroom was dead. Hurt so much that I had to limp over and pick up the throwing star you're holding now."
    Roy: "Wow."
    Keichii: "He's pretty awesome."
    Ivan: "Oh yeah, i forgot to introduce you. Roy, meet Keichii and Alexis. Keichii and Alexis, meet Roy, my best friend."
    Keichii & Alexis: "Hi. Pleased to meet you."
    Roy: "Same to you two."

    Suddenly, a couple, Quiet14 and SonicBoom49 walked into the shop and said, "We couldn't help overhearing your conversation. Ivan, you're pretty awesome you know." Ivan replied, "Uhhh...Thanks."

    Quiet14 & SonicBoom49: "Can we interview you for the Henesys times? We're the reporters.
    Ivan: "Uhhhh......."
    Quiet14: "It's a-okay if you don't want to."
    Ivan: "Ummm......Okay."
    SonicBoom49 : "Very well, lets get this interview on!"

    Meanwhile, somewhere else in MapleStory......

    A level 200 Dark Knight was staring into a crystal ball. "Hmmmmm...... Our little hero is starting to get popular." he mumbled and stroked the ball. The image swirled and changed to one of a I/L Wizard. He started to talk with him.

    ???: "Marco, why did you not perform your duties as i ordered?"
    Marco: "I'm sorry boss, a White Knight leapt into the way of my attack and blocked it."
    ???: "No matter, i have much more plans to dispose of him. But should you fail this time, you know what will happen."
    Marco (trembling): "Ye......yes Saevio......I me...mean...boss...."
    Saevio: "Now, make sure you kill him."

    Saevio stuck his Fairfrozen into the crystal ball, causing it to shatter into a million pieces. He laughed a very menacing, evil laugh, "Muahahahaha......Muahahahaha!"

    Chapter 6: A Shadow Falls

    Yotam was having fun training at Pig Beach until he reached to his back for another arrow only to find his quiver empty. He cursed as an armoured pig appeared behind him and ran for the rope. He pulled out a scroll from his bag, muttered a few magical words, and the very next second he was in Henesys, heading for the local potion shop. A thief, walking out of the shop, bumped into Yotam as he walked in. The thief muttered, "Sorry" and continued on his way. Yotam walked into the shop and bought a few arrows. After that he headed back to Pig Beach, walking past a tent on the way. He reached his destination only to find a I/L Wizard there. Yotam asked him, "What's a high-level person like you doing here?"

    "I'm here to ask you to help me with something."
    "What?"
    "Bring a certain Bowan to me."
    "Who?"
    "Ivan."
    "That noob?"

    Meanwhile, at Henesys in a tent......
    "Ahhhchoooo!" Ivan sneezed. "Someone must be talking about you." Alexis said with a grin. Ivan replied, "Maybe."

    Back at Pig Beach......
    "Yeah."
    "No way. I wouldn't go near him even if my life depended on it."
    "Why not?"
    "I've seen his true powers before. They're scary."
    "I don't care. Just do it."
    "No."
    "Are you sure? I'll pay you 500000 mesos."
    "My answer is still no. Leave me alone, you idiot."
    "I'll teach you to call me an idiot!"

    The wizard fired a lightning bolt at Yotam. Luckily he saw it coming and jumped out of the way. The wizard had gotten really angry and was firing spells at him one after another. Yotam was dodging them very easily, thanks to his quick reflexes and brought his crossbow to bear on the wizard. Suddenly, the wizard fired a lightning bolt at Yotam's crossbow, burning it to a crisp. "Hey! That was my favourite crossbow!" Yotam yelled and brought out an axe, trying to hack at the wizard. Trying to get in close, he was caught off guard by a lightning bolt the wizard had charged up and flew into a wall, falling to the grass with a slump. Just as the wizard was about to finish Yotam off, a steely throwing star flew out of the sky and hit the wizard on the foot. Hopping on his other uninjured foot and yelling, he lost concentration on his lightning bolt, causing it to self-destruct. He brought his esther shield up and blocked the explosion, flying back in the process. Yotam glanced around weakly, looking for his rescuer and noticed a dark figure in the sun. A level 59 Assasin named AssinxD flew out of the sky and landed before him, sunlight shining off his Sapphire Slain and his White Napoleon billowing in the wind. He said, "Tsk, tsk, you shouldnt pick on newbies like that." Without a word, the wizard fired a lightning bolt at him. AssinxD muttered a few words under his breath, ending it with "Haste." and disappeared into thin air, the lightning bolt flashing harmlessly through the space which he had just unoccupied. Without the wizard noticing, AssinxD jumped to his back and threw more steelies at the wizard. Blocking them easily, the wizard fired a lightning bolt at AssinxD again but was easily dodged. Now, AssinxD was running circles around the wizard while throwing steelies at him. All the wizard could do was block and teleport away. But whenever he tried to, a steely would fly at him before he finished the incantation, forcing him to block and disrupting his concentration. He tried to freeze the grass on which AssinxD was running on, causing him to lose his grip and slip. He recovered just in time to dodge another lightning bolt fired at him and started jumping around with incredible speed this time. Again and again, the wizard froze the grass around him, but AssinxD would just jump over it easily. Suddenly an idea occurred to the wizard and he muttered a quick incantation, freezing an area of grass around him in a circle of about 15 metres radius. Another quick incantation caused a wall of impenetrable ice to rise up around him, blocking any attacks. When the ice wall was gone, the wizard had also disappeared without a trace. AssinxD sighed and went to check on Yotam.

    "Are you okay?"
    "Yeah, thanks a lot. I'd be dead by now if you hadn't stepped in."
    'No problem. I just hate high-leveled people that bully newbies."
    "Oh."
    "Anyway, i gotta run, doing an errand for a friend."
    "Oh okay. Bye."
    "Bye."

    With that AssinxD disappeared in a flash. Yotam suddenly noticed a Battle Crossbow beside him with a hurriedly scribbled note on it. It read:

    Here's a new crossbow for you. I happened on it when i was hunting and since i don't really need it, you can have it. Sorry about your other crossbow that got blown up by that wizard. This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds. AssinxD

    Yotam thought the last sentence was a joke and reread it, getting a black face in the process (The message had self-destructed). He coughed, thought "What a weird guy." and continued training.

    Chapter 7: Beauty and the Beast

    "Come, come, come! Buy my stuff!" Such are the shouts that ring through the air at Free Market every day. Ivan browsed through the stalls in Free Market, looking for nothing in particular. Suddenly he noticed a slight commotion in a dark alleyway. Walking in to see what was happening, he saw three men crowded around someone. Apparently the men were bullying that person. Ivan asked, "Hey, what's going on here?" One of the men turned around and lunged for his throat. Ivan, wasting no time, drew an arrow from his quiver, loading it on his bow, he shot it straight at the man's right leg. The arrow hit it's mark and the man yelled, blood dripping out from the cut made by the arrow. His other companions turned around and tackled Ivan like a pack of wild boars. Again, Ivan shot both of them in the right leg. They howled in pain and limped away, looking at Ivan sternly. "We'll get you for this!" they said. Ivan was already pulling back an arrow on his bowstring, aiming for one of the men's head. They hurriedly left the alley. Ivan sighed and turned to look at the person they were bullying. He took one look and turned away, his face turning bright red. It was a level 47 female Bandit, whose long hair fell almost to her feet, laying half-naked on the floor, blinking at Ivan. Apparently her bathrobe had been torn by the recent fight. She got up, ran happily to Ivan and hugged him. "Thanks for saving me." she thanked him. Ivan replied, "Uhhh...... No...... no problem......" his face turning an even brighter shade of red. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Oh, my clothes, sorry." she pulled another bathrobe out of her bag and changed into it, telling Ivan, "No peeking!". Ivan replied, "Uhhh... Okay...". When she had finished changing, she told him, "Okay, I'm done now.". Ivan turned around and went red again. This time she had changed into an artfully ripped (Or so she thought.) bathrobe. "How do I look?" she asked, doing a spin. (Erm...... I'm skipping this part because its well...... kinda g@y.) Ivan and the Bandit took a walk in the park and started having a chat. She had changed into proper clothes for once.

    "Thanks again for saving me back then."
    "No problem."
    "My name's Silfa. What's yours?"
    "Ivan."
    "Hmmm, nice name."
    "Thanks. Where are we going anyway?"
    "To my friend's house. She lives just nearby."
    "Why are we going there?"
    "You'll see."

    Arriving at a house, Silfa knocked on the door, which mysteriously opened without anyone behind it. "Come in." a strangely familiar voice said. Silfa did a dainty jump over the mat as she entered. However, when Ivan entered, he stepped on the mat, which flickered briefly and he fell through the mat into a hole. When he fell in, Silfa covered the hole with a steel plate and snickered.

    "Uggghhh...... Where am I?" Ivan wondered as he looked around his dark surroundings. His eyes gradually adjusted to the dark and he could see that he was in a cage of some sort and he was underground. Picking himself up, he tried to force the cage bars apart but got an electric shock. "I wouldn't suggest you do that." a I/L Wizard stepped out from the darkness. Ivan recognized him as Marco.

    Ivan: "Marco!?"
    Marco: "Yes."
    Ivan: "Whats going on here!?"
    Marco: "You have been captured."
    Silfa descended into the room via a staircase.
    Silfa: "Thanks to me."
    Ivan: "What the...!?"
    Silfa: "You see, I work for the same master as Marco."
    Ivan: "No way!"
    Silfa: "Yes way."
    Marco: "Our master wishes that you be killed as part of his plan."
    Ivan: "What plan!?"
    Silfa: "He plans to......"
    Marco nudges Silfa.
    Silfa: "We'll tell you later."
    Ivan: "........."
    Marco: "In the meantime, enjoy our 'hospitality'. The master wants to kill you personally."
    Ivan: "Lemme outta here!!!"
    Silfa: "Quit whining. We'll make sure you die a long and painful death."
    Ivan: "LEMME OUTTA HERE!!!"
    Marco: "Stop whining!"
    He froze Ivan's mouth.
    Ivan: "Mmmmm!"
    Silfa: "That's better."
    As Silfa and Marco turned to leave,
    Marco: "Wait. I want to have some fun with him."
    Silfa: "Oookay."
    She went out of the room.
    Marco: "Eat my poison!"
    He fired a poisoning spell at Ivan, causing him to fall to the ground.
    Marco: "Muahahahaha!"
    He left the room.

    Ivan started to feel dizzy as his vision got blurry. Slipping into unconsciousness, he wondered what would happen to him. Suddenly, a voice inside him said, "Do not give up hope, young one."

    "Who's there?"
    "I am you, and you are me."
    "Just tell me who're you."
    "I am the Dark Dragon."
    "What!?"
    "Yes. Do not fear this poison, for it is merely non-existent."
    With that, Ivan's mind cleared and he sat up, no longer poisoned.
    "This is...."
    "My true power. Behold!"

    Ivan Awakened, his great black wings and long black tail bursting out of his back again. Hovering in the air, he shouted some words in a language which he himself did not understand (He was semi-conscious). His body immediatly grew longer and his skin changed colour into black. His hands and feet turned into claws and his head changed shape into a black coloured dragon's head. He had transformed completely into the Dark Dragon. He broke the cage bars with one single roar, soaring up the stairs into the house. Marco and Silfa came out of a nearby room to see what the commotion was all about and got blown up against the wall by the sheer wind of Ivan's wings. The two of them were awestruck at the dragon which had just appeared out of nowhere and were completely immobilized out of shock. By now Ivan had regained control of his body and was staring at Marco and Silfa wide-eyed. Again, the voice inside him spoke.

    "It is up to you how we deal with these two people."
    "This is...... amazing."
    "As I said earlier, this is my true power."
    "These people may be evil, but they deserve to live as much as we do."
    "As you wish."

    The voice faded away. Ivan let out a deafening roar, broke the house door down with a single swipe of his claws and soared out into the sky towards freedom. Marco and Silfa were still gaping in amazement and shock. Silfa, trembling, asked, "What just happened?"

    Ivan was enjoying his ability to fly when the voice spoke again, "Land, your 1 minute transformation time is almost over."
    "So fast?"
    "Your body cannot handle this transformation for long. If you stay in it too long, you will die."
    "Ohhh...... Guess I'd better land fast then."

    Ivan went into a nosedive, spinning like a top to maximize his speed. When he got close to the ground, he pulled out of the nosedive, flapping his wings wildly and landed safely on all fours in Henesys Park, smack in front of Keichii, Roy and Alexis, who were taking a walk. Roy and Alexis were blown off their feet, but Keichii was still standing. Roy and Alexis picked themselves up and the trio stood there gaping at Ivan. He said, "It's me." and Alexis went to hug him. Roy and Keichii immediatly started bombarding Ivan with questions but he reverted back to his original form and collapsed. Keichii said, "Poor guy, must have had a tough day." and carried him to the Henesys potion shop for a rest.

    Chapter 8: Demon Stone (Part 1)

    "Brrrrr......" Ivan woke up in a room, having had cold water dumped on him. "About time too. You got a letter." Roy said beside him. "A letter?" Ivan asked. Roy replied, "Yeah, you'd better read it." and tossed it at Ivan. He ripped it open and unfolded the letter. It read:

    Dear Ivan,
    You may not know me, but i am a big fan of yours. I read the article on your powers just yesterday and I think you're pretty incredible. I think I know a way to boost your powers. There's a rumour flying around the market about an incredibly rare, powerful and magical stone. It's called the Demon Stone. It's supposedly able to make any mapler far stronger than any other mapler in the world. However, it's also rumoured to be guarded by an extremely powerful guild called the Protector Clan. Be careful if you want to search for it.
    P.S: Someone very powerful is observing you.
    By: Anonymous

    Ivan looked at Roy, who in turn looked back at him. "Weird letter." Ivan said.

    "Yeah, but if what the guy said about someone watching you, then you'd better hurry up and get thet Demon Stone. Most probably that person wants to kill you or something."
    "Hope not......"
    Alexis walked into the room, cheerily waving at Ivan.
    Alexis: "Hi, so you're awake."
    Ivan: "Yeah."
    Alexis: "You had me worried there when you collapsed!" She ran over to Ivan and hugged him.
    Ivan: "Sorry about that......"
    Roy: "Speaking of that, what happened to you back there?"
    Ivan: "Two people tried to kidnap me. I got trapped underground and a Wizard poisoned me."
    Roy & Alexis: "What!?"
    Ivan: "And then, a voice spoke to me inside my mind. It told me not to give up and then the poison was gone."
    Roy: "Don't tell me, I know what the voice should have been."
    Ivan: "Then I awakened again. The voice took over my mouth, saying something I didn't understand and the next thing I knew I turned into a dragon."
    Alexis: "Wow."
    Roy: "Amazing......"
    Ivan: "Then i found myself in the park with you guys. Oh yeah, where'd Kei go?"
    Alexis: "Oh, he went to do some shopping."
    Ivan: "Oh."
    Roy: "Ivan got a letter just now, check it out." He tossed the letter at Alexis
    Alexis read it and her face suddenly turned white. She handed it back to Ivan, trembling.
    Ivan: "What's wrong? You look shocked."
    Alexis: "Tha......that handwriting......I recognize it...... It belongs to someone who's after my life......"
    Ivan & Roy: "WHAT!?!?!?"
    Alexis: "His name is...... William......He's a highly skilled assasin who murdered my brother......"
    Ivan: "Waaaa......"
    Alexis: "Be careful of this letter. This Demon Stone thing is probably a trap. But i don't know whats with this post script, it's not in his handwriting."
    Keichii burst into the room, panting.
    Keichii: "No, the Demon Stone is real. I just overheard some people talking about it in Free Market."
    Ivan: "Hmmm......"
    Roy: "You should go for it. Probably someone who really wanted to help you wrote that post script."
    Ivan: "Why is he after your life anyway, Alexis?"
    Alexis: "It's my blood he's after. You see, I'm actually descended from the warrior 3rd job master, Tylus."
    Roy: "Whoah!"
    Alexis: "My blood contains most of my power. Tylus says I have untapped potential in becoming a Hero. William is after me because of that power. He can gain the skills of any job as long as he has drunk the blood of one of them. My brother was a Bishop. Oh yes, anyone killed by him will not be able to revive."
    Ivan: "That gives me more of a reason to get that Demon Stone."
    Keichii: 'It's dangerous. From what I've heard, the guardians are extremely powerful monsters."
    Ivan: "I need to defend us. What would happen if that powerful person attacked us? If you guys get killed I won't be able to forgive myself."
    SonicBoom49 burst into the room, panting also.
    SonicBoom49: "Get the hell outta here! There's an angry mob outside wanting to kill you guys! Quiet14 is holding them off as best as she can, but she won't last for long."
    Ivan: "What the......"
    Keichii: 'No time to waste, we'd better go help Quiet14."
    Roy & Alexis: "Yeah!"

    Outside the house......
    "Lemme throttle them!" one person said, enraged. "Now hold on a sec here, whaddya guys wanna kill them for?" Quiet14 shouted over the angry cries from the mob. "We just wanna kill them!!!" another person said. SonicBoom49, Roy, Alexis, Keichii and Ivan came out of the door, clad in battle armour, Keichii's sword shining especially bright and Roy's claw stuck in his pocket, readying his Ilbi throwing stars. "There they are! Get them!!!" someone yelled and the entire mob charged. Suddenly the Dark Dragon's voice appeared again, saying, "Do not kill these innocent people. They are being controlled by someone." Keichii, Roy, Alexis, SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 had apparently heard it too, for they said simultaneosly, "They're being controlled." and gaped. Ivan said, "Guess we're gonna have to hold them back without hurting them." The Dark Dragon said, "I will boost the two thief's Dark Sight skills to encompass your entire party. However, this will drain 80% of your strength. Are you ready?" Ivan nodded as Roy and Quiet14 clasped their hands together, muttering a string of words in an ancient tongue and ending it with, "Dark Sight!" The entire party faded away, Ivan feeling extremely weak all of a sudden. Keichii sighed and lifted him on his back, following the others away from the area, ignoring the shouts of, "Where'd they go?" from the mob behind them.

    Chapter 9: Demon Stone (Part 2)

    "That was a close call." Keichii said, sinking into a seat. "Yeah, I don't know what would have happened to us if the Dark Dragon hadn't come in when it did." Alexis remarked, looking at Ivan, who was sleeping in one of Keichii's sleeping bags. "How come you have so many camping supplies?" Roy asked Keichii. He replied, "I camp outside most of the time." SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 were sitting in a corner, discussing something in hushed voices. "Anyway, how are we supposed to find the Demon Stone like this? We don't even have any clues." Keichii added. Ivan suddenly woke up. "Guys, I was just talking with the Dark Dragon. It sensed something there." he pointed towards Kerning City. "Probably the Demon Stone." Ivan added. Keichii replied, "But... We'll have to go through the mob again." Ivan said, "No you don't, remember I can fly when I'm awakened.". "Why didn't I think of that?" Keichii said, slapping his forehead. Roy asked, "Won't we be too heavy for you?" Ivan replied, "Oh, I didn't think of that......". The Dark Dragon suddenly spoke, "They will be too heavy for Ivan. You can walk around the island, but that would take too long. Passing through the dungeon would mean you have to fight a couple of strong monsters. The only way is to use my mass teleport skill. I will need something to focus my energy on though." Keichii heard it and tossed a rock towards Ivan. "I think you mean this. It's a Magic Rock." Keichii said. The Dark Dragon replied, "Exactly what I will need. Everyone gather around Ivan." The whole party did exactly as the Dark Dragon said, "Ivan, you will need to Awaken to use this skill. Are you ready?" Ivan nodded and braced himself for the transformation.

    Once again, the great black wings and tail burst out as he mumbled a string of words, "Bound for Kerning City. Quantum space heed my words, Mass Teleport!" and hey presto, they were in Kerning City. However, they appeared underground, in the subway station surrounded by ghosts, big and little. Ivan muttered another string of words, "Dark powers within me, heed your master's awakening call and come to my aid! Dark Dragon Form!". He immediatly transformed into the Dark Dragon and started attacking the ghosts around him with incredible speed, his wings beating back and forth too fast to see with the naked eye. He finished the whole map in 10 seconds flat, mesos and strange medicine landing on the ground everywhere. Hurrying out of the subway station, Roy asked, "Why did we appear here?" Ivan replied, "Someone was messing around with the magic I casted. He changed my original teleport point." Keichii remarked, "Must be one powerful mage to change magic like that." Suddenly, two golems appeared as they were charging towards the exit, blocking their path. "We will not let you pass." one said. Apparently it was Fire-elemental, for it was on fire. The other one, an Ice-elemental added, "Our master has willed it so. Leave, or face our wrath!". Keichii said, "How are we supposed to leave when you two are blocking the exit!?" and added quietly, "Ivan, you take the Ice golem. I'll take the Fire one." Ivan nodded and readied himself. He felt an agonizing pain in his right leg all of a sudden and fell to the ground. The Dark Dragon said, "Your 1 minute transformation time is over. Make haste in dealing with those two or you will die." Ivan gave a weak roar, got up and soared into the air, swooping down on the Ice golem like an eagle. Keichii let out a battle roar and charged towards the Fire golem, muttering, "Ice, power of the North Pole, heed my words. Ice Charge!". His sword empowered with ice, he charged the Fire golem. As Ivan and Keichii engaged their respective golems in battle, the rest of the party was edging towards the exit while the golems were distracted. Suddenly a dragon appeared, blocking the exit again. They groaned and prepared to fight it. Ivan noticed the new dragon but he couldn't do anything about it since he was already fighting the Ice golem. However, Roy's eyes lit up strangely, his right eye was red, and his left was blue. Letting out a roar, he suddenly transformed into a two-headed dragon, two pairs of wings and a tail bursting out of his back. His hands and feet turned into claws and he attacked the dragon. Alexis, SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 watched in amazement as Roy made short work of the dragon. He froze the dragon with a cold breath and burnt it down the very next second with a hot flame. It didn't have time to react as it was taken completely by surprise.

    Meanwhile, Ivan was feeling weaker and weaker by the second as he kept fighting the Ice golem. Suddenly it pounded the ground heavily and an icicle fell from the ceiling directly above Ivan. It hit his right wing and he fell to the ground, writhing in agony. He reverted back to his original form as he fell and fainted. Keichii, who saw what happened, quickly finished off the Fire golem with a Ice charged blow and ran to assist Ivan. This time he used a Fire charge and his sword flamed red. However, the Ice golem punched his sword and it broke into pieces, having been overused. He cursed and prepared to go in hand-to-hand combat as the Ice golem closed in. Suddenly a sword flew in from the subway exit, landing blade-down in front of Keichii. He quickly picked it up, used the Fire charge again and finished off the Ice golem with a neatly placed slash to the head. Looking towards the exit, he saw a black form disappear. He picked Ivan and Roy (He also fainted after changing back.) up and hurried after the others to the exit, wondering why he always had to carry Ivan.

    Chapter 10: Demon Stone (Part 3)

    *Splash* Roy and Ivan woke up after being splashed with cold water. Roy said, "Now I know what it's like to be sucked into a computer......" Ivan replied, "You got sucked in too?" Roy added, "I got sucked in when I transformed.". "Oh." Ivan said. Suddenly a voice said, "Hello, young one. I am the Twin Dragon inside your friend here." Roy remarked, "I guess he's just about the same as your dragon." Keichii, who had splashed the cold water on them said, "Nice one. We would have been dead by now if you hadn't transformed back then." Quiet14, SonicBoom49 and Alexis walked into the room, carrying parcels and bags. Putting them on a nearby table, they started to bombard Roy with questions. Meanwhile, Ivan was looking through what they had bought, finding new equipment and a lot of potions. "Wow, you guys sure bought a lot of stuff." Ivan remarked. Keichii said, "We'll need all that if we're to stay on the move. We can't let the bad guy get us before we get him, can't we?" After a few questions, the party was ready to get going and left the hotel, Keichii paying the bill. When they got out, Ivan asked, "Dark Dragon, can you sense where the Demon Stone is?" Instead, the Twin Dragon replied, "I sense a strong energy from the south-east. It is most probably the Stone which you speak of." The Dark Dragon said, "I was about to say that." Alexis remarked, "The more the merrier......Haha."

    As they continued south-east, slaying a lot of monsters on the way, they eventually got back to Henesys. Surprisingly, the mob wasn't there to greet them. Instead, there were archers everywhere in town. Ivan spotted one on a rooftop and another one entrenched in a tree hole. The townsfolk didn't seem to be happy either. The condition was very tense and grave. The party followed instructions given by the dragons and eventually got to a breathing rock. Ivan remarked, "It seems like the rock is...... breathing." Keichii said, "It's not called the breathing rock for nothing you know." They continued on and into a temple of golems. Strangely, there were no monsters on the map. Keichii mumbled, "This is strange......Normally there'd be golems here."

    As they advanced through a portal, they were greeted by a rippling shockwave. Roy and Quiet14 took some serious damage and were knocked back. Luckily the shockwave failed to hit Keichii, Alexis, SonicBoom49 and Ivan, as they had jumped aside. "You will not get pass here." a deep booming sound came from a huge golem that was tainted black in front of them. Keichii, wondering why they always had to fight, unsheathed his new Heaven's Gate, which glinted bright yellow in the sunlight. Alexis unsheathed her Two-Handed Sword while SonicBoom49 readied his Fish Spear.

    Chapter 11: The Demon Within

    "Hiyaaah!" Keichii tried to slash at the giant golem, but was easily blocked. Alexis and SonicBoom49 were trying to slash and stab it also, but were dealing very insignificant damage. Roy's Ilbi throwing stars and Quiet14's Mokbi throwing stars were doing next to nothing to the giant golem. Ivan, on the other hand had awakened and was now in Dark Dragon form, biting and slashing at any part of the golem he could get to. Every now and then he landed a hit, only to get knocked back. The two dragons were issuing commands every now and then like, "Get his back, he's off guard." and, "Get back! He's going to use the shockwave!". Roy muttered, "Dragon of Ice and Fire, heed my call. Twin Dragon Form!" and he transformed into the Twin Dragon, blue and red coloured wings along with his tail bursting out of his back, hands and feet turning into claws and growing two heads. He roared and joined Ivan in fighting the golem. However, his attacks weren't doing any good at all. The golem was blocking all their attacks.

    Suddenly, the Dark Dragon shouted, "Combine your powers! With your combined strength, we might just be able to defeat that beast!" Ivan and Roy retreated while Keichii distracted the golem. "Powers within me, obey my commands and combine with him." Ivan and Roy muttered as a energy ball started forming in the air. As the two focused their powers into it, Keichii was getting tired. Yelling, "Hurry up with that! I can't hold on much longer!" he slashed, hacked and stabbed at the golem. The energy ball was starting to change colour into dark red. Keichii took a hit in the stomach and flew backwards, coughing blood.

    The golem started to advance on Ivan and Roy, curling it's hands into fists and preparing to send out another shockwave. They finished charging it and fired it straight at the golem's chest. Hitting its target, the ball exploded on the golem, pieces of rubble flying everywhere. However, the golem wasn't dead yet. There was a big crater in its chest where the energy ball had exploded. Keichii quickly got up and rushed towards the crater, his Heaven's Gate pointed straight forward. There was a "Chhhiiing!" noise as the sword pierced through the center of the crater. The golem still wasn't dead though. It picked Keichii up and flung him bodily at a pillar. The pillar collapsed as Keichii hit it, burying him in the rubble.

    "KEI!!!" Ivan yelled. Opening his mouth, he fired a sudden burst of flame at Keichii's sword, still stuck in the crater. There was a sudden explosion and the golem was blasted to kingdom come, its rubble spraying everywhere. Roy hurriedly went to help Keichii out of the rubble while Ivan flew towards a raised platform on the top of a nearby temple. When he reached it, he found a small pulsating black stone with strange markings on it. "This must be the Demon Stone. I can sense its power." The Dark Dragon said. "Yeah. But how do i use it?" Ivan asked. The Dark Dragon replied, "Swallow it."

    Ivan took the stone and it started to pulse harder. When he swallowed it it stopped pulsing. However, his veins were suddenly overrun with dark power and his body started to change. He grew 3 extra pairs of claws, 1 more pair of wings, 3 pairs of eyes, his body grew longer, spikes grew all the way down his back, his tail grew longer. His eyes changed colour to completely black and he let out a deafening roar that rocked the whole island. The rest of the party could only watch in horror as Ivan lost control over himself and flew into the dungeon, the wind caused by his wings uprooting many trees and blowing away the rest of the party.

    Chapter 12: Separation

    Note: This chapter has multiple parts and PoVs, since the party was blown apart by Ivan.

    Part 1: Alexis & Roy

    "IVAN!!!" Alexis yelled as Ivan completely transformed and flew into the dungeon. Suddenly, the sheer wind created by his wings blew the entire party apart. Alexis landed in the rocky cliffs of Perion along with Roy. "Uggghhhh...... That was one heck of a ride......" Roy mumbled. Alexis said, "Yeah, where are the others?" and looked around and noticed that they were in Perion. Roy answered, "We probably got separated from them. Ivan......". Alexis tried to get up but her leg had apparently got twisted when they landed and she sat down again with an, "Ouch!". Roy quickly put her on his back and carried her towards the local potion shop.

    Part 2: Keichii

    The injured Keichii had watched in shock as Ivan flew into the dungeon, the sheer wind created by his wings blowing away the rest of the party. Luckily, he landed in the green forests of Ellinia, the trees cushioning his fall. As he tried to get up, he thought, "Ivan...... What have you become?". His foot was hurting because of the debris the pillar had become when the golem flung him into it. He started to limp towards the local potion shop to buy some potions for himself when suddenly a Heaven's Gate flew through the air and landed in front of him. Keichii immediatly recognized it as the sword that he had stuck into the golem and took it, putting it in his sheath. He continued to limp towards the potion shop.

    Part 3: Quiet14

    Quiet14 had been blown away by the sheer force of the wind created by Ivan's wings. She landed in Pig Beach, smack in front of a Bowman using a crossbow and fainted. The Bowman gaped and carried her to a safer area where she could rest. However, she was mumbling, "Ivan......" The Bowman froze at the sound of the word and turned to look after her for a while.

    Part 4: SonicBoom49

    "Ivan!" SonicBoom49 shouted as the wind created by Ivan's wings blew the party apart. He landed in Florina Beach, smack on top of a Fighter just going to train. "Ouch." Both of them muttered. The Fighter said, "Can you get off me please? You're kinda heavy. And your spear is sticking into me.". SonicBoom49 apologized, "Oh, sorry." and got off the Fighter, who brushed sand off his armour and sword as he got up. The Fighter asked, "Anyway, how did you get here?" SonicBoom49 suddenly remembered what had just happened and replied, "My...... party member blew me here. He's the Dark Dragon......". The fighter's face changed into a serious-looking face and asked, "You mean...... the Dark Dragon from the legends?" SonicBoom49 replied, "Yeah." and fainted. The fighter said, "Poor guy." and lay him down on the sand to rest.

    Part 5: The Demon Dragon

    "OUTTA MY WAY!!!" the Demon Dragon (Previously Ivan.) roared as he flew through the dungeon caves, all the monsters getting killed by getting blown against the wall in one blow as his wings beat furiously, generating powerful winds. Everyone training in the dungeon was also blown up against the wall by his powerful wind and gaped. "What in the world is that!?" someone said, as Ivan continued into the deep parts of the dungeon. Not even the Drakes deep inside could last against the sheer force of his wind. The Tauromacis and Taurospear even deeper inside were equally defeated as the Demon Dragon flew past. Even the Jr. Balrog in the deepest depths trembled at the sound of his roar and quickly left the area. Most maplers would be surprised to see a Jr. Balrog trembling in Ellinia, surprisingly peaceful, walking towards the ship. The Demon Dragon eventually took up residence in the cave that the Jr. Balrog had just vacated, settling into a deep sleep.

    Part 6: Ivan (Note: This part took place inside The Demon Dragon's mind)

    "What's going on? Am i dead?" Ivan wondered as he woke up. Suddenly the Dark Dragon appeared beside him, saying, "You are not dead, young one. The Demon Stone had amplified your powers so much that your body and soul weren't able to handle it. Neither could I. Therefore you lost total control over your own body. Watch." A screen appeared in front of them, showing the view through the Demon Dragon's eyes. The two of them could only watch helplessly as hundreds of maplers and monsters were blown up against the walls, suffering serious damage. Suddenly Ivan felt a great pain in his right hand. Looking at it, he saw that it had turned into black dragonskin. The Dark Dragon added, "Your soul is starting to be absorbed into the Demon Dragon. If you do not break out of it soon, your soul will be consumed and then the transformation will be irreversible. The only way to reverse this transformation is for someone to defeat the Demon Dragon." Ivan was shocked. "But...... Is that even possible? The Demon Dragon is near godly." he said, pointing at the screen. The Dark Dragon sighed and replied, "It is near impossible to defeat such a beast. However, do not give up hope. The fate of the entire world is resting in your hands. The world will be destroyed if the Demon Dragon were to completely awaken. If your mind is strong, you will be able to delay the Demon Dragon's transformation and hope someone will defeat it, for this is merely stage one. However, your body will be destroyed if someone were to defeat you." The Dark Dragon gazed at Ivan. Ivan gaped and replied, "I will gladly give my life to prevent this calamity from happening.". Feeling a sudden pain again, his right arm was now black dragonskin as well. "Hurry up...... Someone, anyone!" Ivan thought.

    Chapter 13: Confrontation

    Note: This chapter is also multi-PoV.

    Part 1: The Job Masters
    Athena Pierce, Dances With Balrog, Grendel the Really Old and Dark Lord arrived in Sleepywood, having sensed a very strong power emitted from the inner depths of the dungeon. Many maplers were crowded around the entrance to the Ant Tunnel, wondering what was going on. Athena nodded to the rest, who quickly prepared for battle. Grendel casted a Mass Teleport spell which took them to the entrance to the Demon Dragon's cave. Entering the cave, it immediatly awoke and unleashed a tremendous roar, knocking all but Dances with Balrog back. "It's far harder than we thought." Athena mumbled, drawing her bowstring back and shooting four arrows at the dragon. It easily blocked it with a swing of it's tail and opened its mouth, charging up an energy beam. "Scatter!" the Dark Lord shouted and immediatly activated Dark Sight. The beam fired straight at the exit portal. The rock above it collapsed, blocking up the portal. "It would appear that we are trapped here." Grendel said, firing a elemental composition arrow at the dragon. Again, it was easily blocked. Athena drew her bow back and prepared to launch a hundred arrows into the air. However, the dragon's tail hit her before she could use the skill and she slammed into the wall. Grendel hurriedly healed her and casted magic guard. However, even the shield could not block the dragon's next attack, which came in the form of a claw slashing downwards. Grendel was thrown back and healed himself again. He said, "This battle is going to take much longer than we expected......" and went back into battle.

    Part 2: Ivan

    "Arrrggghhhh!!!" the pain caused by the absorption of Ivan's soul was too hard to bear and he collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. By now his entire torso was covered in the black dragonskin and spikes had started to grow out of his back. The Dark Dragon encouraged him on, "Do not give up! Remember, the fate of the entire world lies in your hands!" Ivan shouted in pain, "I won't lose to this Demon Dragon!" and concentrated his energy on his torso, changing it back to normal, little by little. He could only watch helplessly as the Demon Dragon fought the job masters, dishing out serious damage. They were landing very few hits on the Demon Dragon though. Ivan was hoping that the rest of his party would come. "Come on...... Guys! I can't hold out much longer over here!" he thought and kept transforming his body back to normal.

    Part 3: Alexis & Roy

    Roy yelled, "Arrrrrgggghhh!!!!!!" It felt like his heart was being ripped apart. Alexis immediatly went over to him, asking, "What's wrong?" Roy replied painfully, "My heart...... It feels like its being ripped apart......" The Twin Dragon's voice appeared, saying, "It would appear that your friend has completely lost himself. I can sense a furious battle raging deep in the depths of the island's dungeon. The Dark Dragon is the king over all dragons. Should he get hurt or into trouble, all the other dragon hosts will feel the pain. Wait, I'm getting a message from the Dark Dragon." Roy gaped and asked, "What is it?" The Twin Dragon replied, "Your friend is telling us to go assist him. He is saying, "Defeat the Demon Dragon!" I would encourage you to hurry. The Demon Dragon is only in its first form right now. Should it reach its third form, the entire world will be destroyed by its sheer power." Alexis gaped and quickly pulled Roy towards her, telling him, "We'd better hurry! Ivan is in trouble!". She pulled out a scroll and muttered an incantation, teleporting them to Sleepywood.

    Part 4: Keichii

    A magician burst in through the door of the potion shop, yelling frantically, "All magicians go to Sleepywood right now! Grendel needs your help to defeat a powerful dragon deep in the depths of the dungeon!" Keichii, overhearing it, thought, "It must be Ivan!" and pulled out a scroll, muttering an incantation. He arrived at Sleepywood the next second, just meeting Roy and Alexis.

    Part 5: Quiet14 & Yotam

    "So you're saying Ivan turned into a monster!?" Yotam gaped, awestruck at Quiet14's story. "Yeah. We'd better go help him!" Quiet14 said. "Okay, I don't like him much, but I can't just sit here doing nothing when the world is about to be destroyed!" Yotam replied, retrieving a scroll from his bag. Grabbing hold of Quiet14's arm, he muttered an incantation and they were teleported to Sleepywood.

    Part 6: SonicBoom49 & KHmasta

    "Your friend turned into a monster eh?" KHmasta said, apparently very surprised. "Yeah. I need to go help him." SonicBoom49 said, heading for the boat. "Now hold on a sec here, you'll be monster fodder if you go there alone. I'm coming with you." KHmasta shouted behind him. SonicBoom49 replied, "Thanks, I'll need all the help I can get." Khmasta took a teleport rock from his bag and grabbed SonicBoom49, saying, "Onwards to Sleepywood!" The next moment, they materialised in Sleepywood. Quiet14 noticed him and immediatly ran to hug him.

    Part 7: Edward & Alaric

    "Hey Ed, one of our guildmates just went mad. He says there's a dragon rampaging around the dungeons and if someone doesn't kill it fast, the world will be destroyed." Alaric said. Edward replied, shocked, "No way...... So it does exist...... Come on, we're going." he grabbed his Metus and started for the building exit. Once outside, he pulled out a scroll and teleported off to Sleepywood, leaving Alaric behind. "Hey, man......" Alaric sighed and took a scroll from his bag, also leaving for Sleepywood.

    Chapter 14: Reunion

    Note: Again, multi-PoV

    Part 1: Ivan

    "AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!" Ivan yelled as the pain mounted to an even more unbearable level. In front of him, the job masters were still battling the Demon Dragon. Now his entire body was covered in black dragonskin. The Dark Dragon said, "It has reached stage 2. Try to delay the transformation longer!" Ivan replied weakly, "I will......" and repeatedly tried to delay the transformation.

    Part 2: The Job Masters

    "Beware, the dragon's power has just increased!" Grendel shouted as the Demon Dragon grew another 2 pairs of eyes, 1 pair of wings and 2 more pairs of claws. The spikes running down its back grew longer and changed colour to green. Its body and tail grew longer, its tail's tip became spear-like and changed colour to green. "Don't get hit by his tail or the spikes! They're poisonous!" the Dark Lord yelled and threw a big throwing star at the dragon's head, only to be deflected by its tail. "I've just got word from our people in Sleepywood. They're ready for the Mystic Door." Grendel said, hovering over a tail lash. He muttered an incantation and a door appeared out of thin air. "Come forth, magicians, bowmen, warriors and thieves! Defend our world!" Grendel added and dodged another tail lash.

    Part 3: The Rest Of The Party

    "Well, we're all here. What do we do now?" Keichii asked. Roy replied, "We need to get down there to Ivan. But how?" Suddenly a door appeared out of nowhere and maplers started going in. Many of them came back out, apparently terrified to their wits. Roy added, "I'm guessing we go through that. Buff up, everyone, we'll have to beat that Demon Dragon." and clasped his hands together, muttering, "Dragon of Ice and Fire, heed my call. Twin Dragon Form!" and he transformed into the Twin Dragon, his red and blue wings and tail bursting out of his back, his hands and feet turned into claws and he grew an extra dragon head. Many of the maplers, including KHmasta and Yotam turned back to gape at him as he flew through the door. Keichii shouted, "Charge!!!" and ran into the door, unsheathing his sword. Alexis, SonicBoom49, Quiet14, Yotam and KHmasta ran in behind him, potions and buffs at the ready.

    Part 4: Templars

    "Buffs please." Edward said to the guild members gathered around him, some went into a fighting stance, some clasped their hands together, some just muttered incantations. Suddenly the door appeared. Just as Alaric said, "Let's go." a dragon with two heads appeared in the crowd and flew through the door. Gaping, he asked, "Did you see that?" Edward replied, "Guess there's more than one dragon in the world." and charged into the portal, drawing his bow. Alaric went in, his guild members all following him in. There were a Dragon Knight, a Hermit, a Sniper, a F/P Mage, a I/L Mage, a Priest and a Crusader among them.

    Chapter 15: The Great Battle

    "Oh... my... god!" Alexis screamed as she looked at the Demon Dragon, who immediatly tried to lash at her with its tail. Keichii knocked Alexis out of the way just in time, holding the tail tight with his hands. However, the tip squirted out a poisonous liquid on Keichii. Grendel saw him and immediatly dispelled the poison, shouting, "Let go of the tail! Its poisonous!" and dodged a claw swipe. Keichii let go of the tail, jumping out of the way to avoid a claw. He unsheathed his sword and charged the Demon Dragon, yelling, "THIS IS FOR IVAN!!!" and slashed at a claw, cutting it off completely by surprise. It let out a tremendous roar and knocked Keichii back into the wall, creating a crater. Grendel healed him and said, "Watch it, you'll get killed if you're not careful." The rest of the party were trying to slash, shoot and cleave the dragon. However, Alexis was yelling and shouting in front of the dragon, "Ivan!!! Wake up! I know you're in there somewhere!". Roy shouted at Alexis, "What are you doing!? You'll get killed trying to do that!" and pushed her out of the way of an energy beam. Alexis started to cry, saying, "If only i could wake Ivan up......". Athena Pierce looked at Roy and muttered, "So the legends were true......" and launched a hundred arrows into the air. Most of them found their mark and hit the Demon Dragon, who was apparently weakening. She yelled at the other archers, "Use your Arrow Rain and Arrow Eruption skills! That dragon cannot block all those arrows at once!".

    A Ranger in the corner immediatly released a rain of arrows down on the dragon. Another Sniper fired arrows into the ground, which eventually came up into the Demon Dragon. It roared yet again and formed a sign with its claws. Suddenly an energy barrier appeared around it, blocking most of the attacks coming from the archers. The Ranger cursed and turned back to shooting 4 arrows. All of the attacks were doing next to nothing to the dragon. A F/P Mage suddenly had a good idea and teleported into the barrier shield, unleashing a fury of elemental composition arrows towards the dragon. Taken by surprise, all of the arrows found their mark. The other magicians quickly realised what they could do and teleported into the shield. Within seconds the entire dragon was covered in bruises and cuts. It quickly let loose a flaming breath that rebounded off its shield and surrounded the insides of the barrier. Luckily all of the mages had teleported out just in time.

    Alexis was still yelling, "Wake up, Ivan!!!" from a corner. The Dark lord noticed her and went down to talk to her. After a while, he jumped over to Grendel and whispered in his ear. Grendel nodded and froze the barrier with a cold beam. He fired a elemental composition arrow at the barrier and broke it. The Dark Lord yelled, "Throw mesos at it, I'll bomb them!" Everyone started throwing mesos at the Demon Dragon, who started to make good use of his claws to deflect and block the explosions. Chief Bandits in the area started to rush towards the dragon with incredible speed and stab and slash at it with their daggers. The dragon let out a tremendous roar and flew up into the air. The warriors cursed and scattered, as they couldn't hit flying targets. However, the Dragon Knights were making good use of their Dragon Roar and were doing good damage to the dragon.

    Meanwhile, inside the Demon Dragon......

    "Man...... This...hurts......" Ivan said, losing consciousness as wings sprouted out of his back. The Dark Dragon beside him was urging him on, "Do not faint! If you lose consciousness, the Demon Dragon will immediatly transform into its third stage!" Ivan replied weakly, "Trying...... but this pain is just too hard to bear......AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!" a tail had grown out of his back. He slumped to the ground, about to faint. Suddenly, he heard Alexis's voice shouting out to him, "Wake up!!!" He stood up again, trying to resist the transformation. "I can't just give up now! The fate of the world is resting in my hands. If I lose to this dragon now, Roy, Alexis and the others will die!" Ivan shouted.

    Back outside......
    The Demon Dragon was starting to weaken, which became obvious as its claws and tail were moving slower. Dances With Balrog quickly saw it and urged the fighters on, "The Demon Dragon is weakening! Take it out!" and jumped up, slashing at the dragon with his axes. Suddenly a few smaller green dragons appeared, teeth, claws and tails readied. Those smaller dragons leapt at the fighters. Those who were hit were poisoned immediatly. Grendel charged up lightning bolts and took all the smaller ones out in one shot and dispelled the poison. "Be careful of the Chaos Dragons!" He shouted and fired an elemental composition arrow at a Chaos Dragon that had leapt on him. A quarter of the crowd trying to defeat the Demon Dragon turned to kill the Chaos Dragons that were appearing around them.

    As they fought, the Demon Dragon was weakening rapidly. It let out another roar and a magical circle appeared under it. Grendel saw it and fired a cold beam at it, barely managing to stop the Quantum Explosion that it was about to cast. "Impossible, it has that skill!?" he mumbled and fought off another Chaos Dragon. The rest of Ivan's party was starting to yell at the dragon, "Wake up, Ivan!!!". As they yelled, it appeared to be losing control over itself, as claws about to hit fighters froze in mid-swipe and wings beating back and forth stopped, forcing the dragon to take the battle to the ground. The shout quickly caught on and the entire crowd started to shout it. The Demon Dragon roared and carried on fighting with the few claws, the energy beam and the tail it still had control over.

    Suddenly the dragon let out a weak roar and collapsed to the ground, defeated. One of the fighters took the chance to throw his spear into the dragon's heart. Alexis yelled, "Noooooooooo!!!" just as the spear pierced through its heart. Immediatly, there was an explosion. The crowd was completely knocked back. As the dust cleared, the dragon had disappeared. However, Ivan was laying spread-eagled on the floor. Most members of the crowd cheered and hugged each other. Alexis and the rest of the party, however, were running down to Ivan's resting place. He tried to get up, but failed and coughed out blood. Alexis ran crying to him, shouting, "Ivan!!!" and hugged him. When she took her hands off him, she found that they were covered with blood and her face immediatly changed to a shocked expression. She held Ivan's hand and said, "What the...... You're......" Ivan replied weakly, "I'll die if the Demon Dragon... *cough*were to be defeated...... *cough* I didn't tell you...... *cough* because... *cough* if i did... *cough* you wouldnt kill... *cough**cough* it......"

    Coughing out blood, Ivan rolled on his side and gazed at the crowd, adding, "Thanks...*cough*". His heartbeat stopped and his hand fell, limp, to the ground. Alexis was shocked. She said, "Ivan? No...... No... NOOO!!!" and started crying hysterically. Tears were flowing out of Keichii's, Roy's, Quiet14's, SonicBoom49's, KHmasta's and Yotam's eyes as they gazed at Ivan, who was apparently dead. The Demon Stone popped out of his mouth, pulsing like crazy until it shattered into a million pieces. A Bishop pushed his way out of the crowd, yelling, "I'll resurrect him!" but Grendel held him back, saying, "That boy has dark powers flowing in his veins. If you were to resurrect him, his body would leave this world. Only a Bishop who has dabbled in the dark arts can resurrect him safely.". Grendel looked around and sighed, "But it would appear that there are no such Bishops here."

    Alexis started to cry even harder and buried her head in Keichii's armour, who patted her on the back, tears flowing out of his eyes. Roy picked Ivan's limp body up and carried him through the crowd, who got out of his way, leaving a wide berth. Athena blasted the rock blocking the exit away with an arrow bomb, allowing Roy and his party to go through. The party walked back to Sleepywood, tears flowing all the time.

    Chapter 16: Revival

    "Sniff......sniff..." Alexis is still mourning Ivan's death in a graveyard near Henesys. "Hey sis. What's up?" a voice suddenly said from behind her. Turning around, she realized that there was a female bandit behind her. Alexis leapt into her arms, crying as she recognized her as her sister, Afrodita. "So...... Your boyfriend's dead huh?" she asked, glancing at the gravestone. Alexis replied, "Yeah...... Sniff...". "Not really. I can revive him!" another voice said from behind the both of them.

    Their brother, Jullian, stepped out from the misty air of the graveyard, armed with a Dragon Staff and clad in black robes with a mysterious seal on it. "Brother!" Alexis and Afrodita shouted and ran to hug him. "But I thought you were dead!" Afrodita cried. "I wasn't actually dead. That vampire placed a curse on me so I wouldn't be able to use my magic and also made me unable to heal my wounds. This is what happened that day......"

    Flashback:

    "Muahahahaha! You will be cursed for all eternity!" William laughed maniacally, forming a seal with his hands. Jullian suddenly felt extremely weak, as though his mana had been completely drained and a seal appeared on his body. "You will never be able to use magic for your entire life again!" William added and walked away, leaving the wounded Jullian lying on the ground. He fainted after a while.

    When he woke up, he got up and tried to walk painfully, back to El Nath, as he could no longer use his mystic door skill. As he made his way through the snowy mountains of, he had to rest quite a few times. A blizzard started up after a while and he had to run for shelter in a nearby cave. Once inside, he found a fire already started up and a figure in a black cloak beside it. "Can I share the fire please?" Jullian asked. The figure replied, "Sure, no problem." and Jullian sat down beside him. However, he fainted again, almost toppling into the fire. Luckily, the person held him back. He looked over Jullian, immediatly noticing the wounds and seal on him. "Whoah...... He's been through one heck of a serious fight." the person muttered, retrieving a handful of white potions from his bag, dumping the contents into Jullian's mouth. His wounds healed immediatly and he woke up.

    "Sorry." he apologized, sitting up straight. "You've been cursed, haven't you?" the person asked, pointing at the seal on Jullian's chest. He replied, "Yeah...... I can't use my skills or heal my own wounds.". The person added, "I know a way to break that kind of curse." Jullian asked, excited, "How?". The person replied, "You must become a Dark Bishop." Jullian said, "But...... Isn't that illegal?". The person added, "It is the only way to break your curse. The only downside is that you cannot protect your friends with your Dark powers." Jullian replied reluctantly, "...... Okay. I'll do it.". The person said, "Hold still. I'll bestow the Dark powers on you." Jullian stood still as the person put his hands on Jullian's back, muttering a string of words in an ancient language. Jullian suddenly felt lighter and more powerful.

    Back to real time......

    "So here I am now." Jullian said. "But...... Didn't that person say you wouldn't be able to use your Dark powers to help you friends? That means you can't use Resurrection on any of us." Alexis asked. "I heard that your friend here also has Dark powers flowing in his veins. I suppose that person meant i couldn't help any of my friends that dont have Dark powers. Anyway, this is the only chance you've got at reviving him. I'm probably the only Dark Bishop in the world. Get away." Jullian replied, holding his hands over Ivan's grave, muttering, "Spirit of the dead, come back to life. Dark Resurrection!". The very next moment there was a flash of darkness and Ivan was standing there, apparently dazed.

    Alexis ran crying to him and hugged him, saying, "I was so worried!". Ivan patted her on the back and replied, "I'm sorry......" Turning to Jullian, he thanked him, "I can't thank you enough for reviving me." Jullian said, "No problem. I need you to help me protect my sister." Ivan added, "Yeah, I heard that." Jullian placed his hands on Ivan's back and muttered, "Dark powers within me, flow through my hands and into this person's body." Jullian's hands started to pulse and streams of black energy flowed into Ivan's body. "This is a bit of my powers. I can't give you too much or I'll be left defenseless." Jullian said, pulling his hands away. "I have to go now." Jullian added, disappearing in a swish of his cloak. Alexis said, "Hey...... Why'd you have to leave so fast? Geez..." and hugged Ivan so tight she was accidentally squishing him. "You're...... squis......squishing...me......" Ivan mumbled and Alexis released him, apologizing, "Sorry." Afrodita asked, "Sis, aren't you gonna introduce me to your boyfriend?". Alexis replied, "Whoops, my bad. Ivan, this is my older sister, Afrodita. Sis, meet my boyfriend, Ivan.". Afrodita said, "Nice to meet you." Ivan replied, "Same to you."

    Chapter 17: A New Dimension (Credits to Gundam SEED Destiny.)

    Ivan stepped out of a surprised Athena Pierce's house, sweating all over. "I did it!" he shouted and hugged Alexis. She said, "Nice...... So you're a Hunter now. Guess I'd better hurry up.". Ivan added, "Athena told me that more of my Dark Dragon powers have been unlocked now that I've become a Hunter. Hey, Dark Dragon, lets try them out!" The Dark Dragon replied, "Let's. Still, I can't believe how lucky you are to have a Dark Bishop as your friend's brother." Ivan said, "Yeah...... I'd have been dead for all eternity if Alexis's brother hadn't resurrected me.". Roy jumped out of a nearby tree, saying, "My Twin Dragon was griefed to see that you were dead, he wouldnt stop crying! But he's happy now that you're alive again. Oh by the way, I've told the others. They should be here soon. In the meantime, let's try out your new powers." Ivan replied, "Yeah sure!" The Dark Dragon said, "Lets try out the Dimensional Jump. I wonder what your original world was like. Get ready, you need to be in Dark Dragon form to use the skill."

    Ivan's great black wings and tail burst out of his back and he muttered, "Dark powers within me, heed your master's awakening call! Level 2 Dark Dragon Form!" and his entire body became longer, his hands and feet became claws and his head changed shape into a dragon's head. However, it was different this time. Ivan's body was longer than usual and his wings were also larger. "I guess this is the new Dark Dragon form huh?" Ivan remarked, motioning for Roy and Alexis to get on his back. The Dark Dragon replied, "With each job advancement, your powers will become stronger. So will your Dark Dragon form.". Ivan said, "Right. I'm beginning the Dimensional Jump spell. Hang on tight! Quantum space heed my words, create a portal to another world! Dimensional Jump!" Roy and Alexis held onto Ivan as a portal appeared in mid-air and he leapt into it.

    In the dimensional transfer tunnel......
    "Wow......" Alexis gaped as the group entered a tunnel that appeared to be encased in gold and blue rings. "Hang on tight! Onwards to the Earth dimension!" Ivan shouted and increased his speed. However, suddenly the tunnel changed and the gold rings changed to silver rings. Ivan mumbled, "What the...... Someone just changed our destination. Hold on! I'll try to go back." and flapped his wings furiously but to no avail. A strong wind was pushing them forward, into a portal shining white. The next second the group was falling downwards towards water. Luckily Ivan regained balance in time and hovered in the air, Roy and Alexis still on his back. Roy said, "This is...... This place looks familiar......". Ivan muttered, "I'll try to look for a safe place to land." but a beam suddenly appeared behind him. It barely missed Ivan's left wing. "What the...... Get down guys!" Ivan shouted as more beams and bullets appeared. Barely managing to dodge all of them, he flew towards the water, skimming the surface.

    Suddenly, a fighter plane flew down behind him and transformed into a white and orange coloured robot. It aimed a rifle at the group. Roy noticed it and yelled to Ivan, "Fly up!". Ivan complied, the beam emitted from the rifle flying below them. "No way...... A Murasame?" Roy muttered, with no idea what he was talking about. Ivan quickly flew for a nearby island, which was apparently surrounded by fighting robots, fighters and battleships. Nearby, a blue and red coloured robot was fighting a gold coloured one. Roy noticed it and said, "Destiny and Akatsuki!? Hey, Ivan, we're in the Gundam Seed world!". Again, he had no idea what he was talking about. Ivan quickly swooped down, dodging a missile coming after him, only to find more flying towards him. He had no choice but to blow flame at them, detonating the missiles before they hit him. Almost immediatly, more mobile suits started targeting them. Ivan had to dodge a flurry of missiles, beams and bullets intent on taking him down. Suddenly, a beam hit him from behind and he started falling towards the island. Luckily he landed safely on all fours with nothing but a burn on his tail.

    The group turned to watch the battle between Destiny and Akatsuki with Akatsuki on the losing side and Destiny throwing two daggers at it. Suddenly a red and blue coloured mobile suit with gold joints and wings appeared out of the sky along with a red coloured mobile suit. Roy recognized the two as Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice. Strike Freedom fired two shots at the daggers flying towards Akatsuki, destroying them. Infinite Justice, on the other hand, was flying towards a battleship that Roy recognized as Archangel.

    Chapter 18: Back To MapleStory

    As Destiny and Strike Freedom clashed in the sky, Ivan and his party were watching, dumbfounded. "Man, Strike Freedom is damn powerful." Roy muttered. Suddenly, Ivan's leg started to ache and he crumpled to the ground. Alexis said, "Whats wrong?" and went to check on his leg. It had no injuries whatsoever. A green mobile suit was suddenly downed behind them. It crashed into the ground while its beam rifle flew towards the group and landed a metre beside them. "We'd better get outta here!" Roy shouted and Ivan casted the Dimensional Jump spell again, "Quantum space heed my words, create a portal to take me and my friends back to MapleStory! Dimensional Jump!". A portal appeared in front of the group, however, it was smaller and could only fit one person. Roy said, "What the......" and looked back. Ivan had collapsed and turned back to normal. "Great." Alexis mumbled and threw Roy into the portal. Roy tumbled in just as the portal closed. The beam rifle earlier was also sucked into the portal.

    "Oh crap! Ivan!!! Alexis!!!" Roy yelled as he tumbled into the portal. Once inside, he got conked on the head by the beam rifle that was also sucked in earlier and blacked out. He woke up back in MapleStory, surrounded by Keichii, SonicBoom49 and Quiet14. Keichii asked, "Where are Ivan and Alexis? By the way, you didn't have to land on me like that. And whats with this......gun? It hit my sword and broke it again.". He massaged his back and pointed at the beam rifle from earlier, then at his sword, which lay on the ground in a hundred pieces. The beam rifle was lying on the ground innocently. SonicBoom49 ran over and picked it up. He aimed at the sky and pressed the trigger just as Quiet14 shouted, "Dont touch......that.". A beam had been fired out of the rifle. SonicBoom49 was pushed up against a nearby wall by the tremendous recoil, muttering, "Whoah. Don't tell me this is a Gundam's beam rifle.". Roy replied, "Yeah, it is. Alexis and I were trying out Ivan's new Dark Dragon powers, namely a Dimensional Jump. Someone changed our original destination to the Gundam Seed world.". The others gasped and immediatly started bombarding Roy with questions.

    Back in the Gundam Seed world......
    Alexis put Ivan on her back and ran for cover, missiles, bullets and beams landing all around her. She quickly noticed mobile suits defending certain crowded areas and ran into the crowds, following them into shelters. Once inside, a soldier asked her to put Ivan down. She complied and the soldier carried him into the medical room. Alexis went to sit down on a bench and waited for a long time. There were a lot of people in the shelter with her, also waiting. Finally, Ivan walked out of the medical room, dazed. Suddenly there was a bit of an earthquake and a soldier ran in from the exit. He started to shout, "A shuttle just launched!". Another soldier shouted back, "Must be Djibril! Inform Headquarters!". Yet another soldier immediatly went to a nearby terminal. Alexis wondered what was going on as Ivan went to sit down beside her. The sounds outside eventually ceased and the crowd went outside. There was a cheering noise coming from outside as Alexis and Ivan exited the shelter.
    Alexis tugged at Ivan's sleeve and ran behind a destroyed building. Ivan followed her and she said, "We need to get back.". Ivan nodded and awakened, great black wings and tail bursting out of his back. He muttered, "Dark powers within me, heed your master's awakening call! Level 2 Dark Dragon Form!". His body and tail became longer, his hands and feet turned into claws and his head turned into a dragon's head. Alexis jumped onto him and held on tight. Ivan added, "Quantum space heed my call, create a portal to take us back to MapleStory! Dimensional Jump!". A portal appeared out of thin air in front of them and Ivan jumped in. The tunnel was encased in silver and blue rings again and Ivan increased his speed. Within a few seconds, they were back in MapleStory. "Gerroff me!" a voice said under them.

    Ivan looked down and spotted a ruffled-looking SonicBoom49 face-down in the grass under him. Ivan apologised, "Sorry." and stepped off SonicBoom49. He got up and brushed off dirt on his face. Keichii, Roy and Quiet14 were beside them, hurriedly stifling laughs. SonicBoom49 retorted, 'Haha, very funny.". The rest of the party immediatly started bombarding Ivan with questions. Ivan noticed the beam rifle behind them and pointed at it, saying, 'Can I have that?". Keichii threw it at him and Ivan muttered an incantation. A safe appeared beside him and opened. He put the beam rifle in and closed the safe, which disappeared into thin air. He fainted after that. Alexis put him on her back and carried him into the nearby potion shop. Keichii muttered, "At least I don't have to carry him this time." and followed her into the shop.

    Chapter 19: Alexis's Awakening

    "I'm bored." Ivan mumbled as he took a walk with Alexis through Mushroom Park. "Same here. Why don't we go to my house in Perion? I still have yet to introduce you to my parents you know." Alexis said, pointing at a nearby taxi. Ivan replied, "Yeah, why not?" and knocked on the window of the taxi. The doors unlocked and Ivan and Alexis got in. Suddenly there was a blue flash and they were frozen to their seats. Ivan shouted, "What the!?" and looked at the taxi driver. Ivan was stunned as he realized who it was. Marco looked back from the driver's seat, laughing, "That was easy!" and drove off with the duo shouting in the back seats. "No use shouting, the windows are soundproof." Marco said and continued driving.

    Suddenly there was a *Poof* sound and the taxi skidded to a halt. Marco cursed and went out to check the tyres. He found an Ilbi throwing star in the front right tyre. Cursing, he pulled it out and retrieved a spare tire from under the taxi's rear bonnet and started switching tyres. A thief silently opened a rear door and cut through Ivan's and Alexis's ice bindings, freeing them. The thief motioned for the duo to not make any noise and quickly sneaked away. Ivan and Alexis snuck out the door and tiptoed away. However, Alexis stepped on a branch. Marco turned around and caught the two of them. Ivan yelled, "Run for it!!!" and ran off, trailing a cloud of brown dust. Alexis tried to follow but Marco tripped her up with a cold beam. Ivan looked back and found Marco holding his staff to Alexis's throat. "Ivan! Help me!" Alexis shouted only to get muffled up by Marco's hand. Ivan shouted back, "Leave her alone, you monster!" and drew an arrow and his bow from his quiver, aiming at Marco. "You don't want to let that go, don't you?" Marco replied menancingly, retreating back into the taxi. He added, "Come with me and I'll let her go." Ivan cursed and placed his bow and arrow back in his quiver. He walked towards the taxi slowly. "No! Ivan!" Alexis shouted in dismay as Ivan got into the taxi. "Now I got both of you! Muahahaha!" Marco laughed and threw Alexis into the taxi. He quickly got back in the driver's seat, locked all the doors and drove off.

    "I'm sorry, Ivan......" Alexis mumbled. Ivan patted her on the back and said, "It's okay. I won't forgive myself if anything happening to you......". Marco laughed from the front, "Enjoy your last few moments of your love life!" and stopped the taxi in front of a deserted wooden house. He got out and opened the rear door, motioning for the couple to come out. When they got out, Marco destroyed the taxi with a lightning bolt and pushed Ivan and Alexis into the house. He locked the door and opened a trapdoor in the floor, once again pushing the couple in. They were amazed when they entered, as the whole place was crowded with vats filled with green liquid and monsters. As they watched, the monsters appeared to be...... transforming. An orange mushroom in a nearby vat grew small horns in its head and a jr necki nearby grew wings and became larger. Marco threw the couple onto steel tables and strapped them to the tables. Marco then went to sit on a chair beside the door and stood guard, apparently not wanting to make the same mistake twice.

    *Sniff* *sniff* Alexis cried silently as Ivan tried to think up a plan to get themselves free. The Dark Dragon said, "This contraption has sealed my powers. You are unable to awaken as long as you stay strapped to this thing.". Ivan cursed and tried to reach for his quiver, hoping to cut the straps with his arrow tips. However, Marco saw him and immediatly froze his quiver. "Don't try anything funny or I'll fry you." Marco muttered and continued standing guard. Ivan cursed again and tried to shake off the straps, but they were too tight. "Stop hurling obscenities and think rationally." the Dark Dragon said. Suddenly, a person walked into the room. It was a level 50 Hunter. He eyed Ivan and Alexis curiously and mumbled something to Marco, who backed away. The hunter pulled out a bag and started selecting various tools, most of which were sharp.

    Ivan suddenly realized what was going to happen to them. They were going to be turned into experiments like the monsters in the vats! He quickly struggled harder to shake off the straps but to no avail. Marco walked over to Alexis's table and turned it towards Ivan's. The hunter walked menancingly towards Ivan with a syringe in his hand. He injected a strange liquid into Ivan's arm. He immediatly fell unconscious. The hunter then turned over to Alexis, injecting another syringe of the liquid into her arm. She blacked out.

    Inside Alexis's mind......
    "Great. Now what do I do? I got us into this horrible mess and now we're both going to die......" Alexis cried softly. Suddenly, a scaly hand appeared on her shoulder. Alexis looked behind her and gaped, it was an extremely beautiful woman with the tail of a snake and very long hair that fell to her tail-end. Her hands were covered in scales. "Do not fear, I, the Siren, am here to aid you." it said. "I am different from your friend, these contraptions do not affect me." it added. The very next moment there was a bright flash of light and Alexis regained consciousness, her eyes strangely glowing emerald green.

    Alexis started to transform, her brown hair growing longer and changing colour to silver. Her feet started to meld together and change into a long, green, scaly tail. Her hands became green and scaly too. Her fingernails grew longer and sharper too. By the time her transformation was complete, her silvery hair was as long as her green, scaly tail. The hunter looked at her and his jaw dropped, scalpel halfway to Ivan's chest. Alexis quickly broke through her straps with her tail and knocked the scalpel out of the hunter's hand. She slithered over to Ivan's table and broke his straps too. She put the unconscious Ivan on her back and slithered away. Marco was staring at Alexis wide-eyed. He didn't dare to move even a millimeter as she knocked down the door and slithered out. The hunter threw down his tools and started for the door, shouting, "That's it, I quit! I've had enough of those monsters!"

    Outside......
    "That was...... amazing!" Alexis said as she slithered into some nearby bushes to avoid being seen. The Siren replied, "Your friend is a Dark Dragon, is he not? I owe him a favour as he saved my life a few hundred years ago.". Alexis gaped. "You had better transform back, I see a few of the nearby monsters are getting sex-happy." the Siren added, pointing Alexis's head at a nearby pig, who's face was going a bright shade of red. "What do you me...... Oh." Alexis looked down at herself and noticed that she was naked. She went bright red and transformed back hurriedly. The Siren said, "I have to make your armour disappear to make room for my tail to grow out. Otherwise, you won't be able to attack effectively like earlier.". Alexis replied, "You should have just told me first!"

    Chapter 20: Legends

    "Wake up!" I heard someone calling me as my vision gradually un-blurred, revealing a female blonde warrior. "What happened?" I asked as I got up. The Dark Dragon inside me said, "It would appear that your girlfriend here has saved you. Or should I say, the Siren?". Alexis giggled as a strange voice replied, "I see you caught me, Dark Dragon.". I got up and looked around, noticing that we were in the bushes. Suddenly, the Siren said, "Hush, someone's coming." We immediatly lay low on the ground. Marco walked out of the house, looked at the wreckage of the taxi and kicked it, cursing. He took the path back to Henesys. 'We should be safe now." the Dark Dragon said. I asked, "Why do some of us have you...... Inner Beasts? Why not everyone else in the world?".

    The Siren replied, "Only a select few people can receive us Inner Beasts. There was an ancient prophecy made hundreds of years ago by the gods that some new people introduced to this world would save the world from utter destruction. Those people were called Legends. We Inner Beasts were created specially to aid these Legends. This world was originally an independent dimension in which maplers lived peacefully, until people from your original world started developing contraptions that would allow them to access this world from the other. When they accessed this world, they created the four jobs, bowman, thief, warrior and magician along with monsters for the newcomers to fight. The old maplers realized that they would be in trouble as long as they did not advance, and some people dared to. The first eight to advance were the ancestors of the following people: Athena Pierce, Dances With Balrog, the Dark Lord, Grendel The Really Old, Robeira, Rene, Arec and Tylus. Yes, Alexis is a descendant of the Original Eight." Alexis gasped. "That is why William wants your blood." the Siren added. The Dark Dragon continued, "Ivan, your father is actually a mapler as well. He was sucked into the game exactly like you. When he was in here, he became a legendary Ranger. He also married a female warrior by the name of Fielda. I was assigned to him as well." Alexis gaped, "But......Fielda is my mother!" I gasped, "That means we're...... half-brother and half-sister?". The Dark Dragon replied, "Incorrect. You two are in fact, brother and sister by blood. Fielda gave birth to twins, and they are standing here right now. It was my powers that allowed Alexis to have the capability to host the Siren.". My jaw dropped.

    "Because I have a bit of the Dark Dragon's power within me and also both of you are twins, you two are able to merge bodies to create a much stronger Inner Beast." the Siren added. Roy dropped out of a tree, landing on his head. He said, "Ouch. Sorry guys, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. Mind if I listen? My Twin Dragon is also getting interested ya know." The Twin Dragon hurriedly replied, "I never knew that the Dark Dragon had a sister!". I said, "We don't mind." and the Dark Dragon continued, "Remember I told you earlier that you would save the world? Your enemy is an extremely powerful opponent. He is my brother, the Dark Scorpion. He has taken up host in a Dark Knight by the name of Saevio. And he is not to be taken lightly, for he is level 200. In the ancient times, both of us were living happily until the Dark Scorpion saw new maplers killing monsters nearby. He went to watch and when he came back, his heart was tainted black. A few days later, he completely disappeared. The next month, a powerful monster attacked Henesys. That monster was the Dark Scorpion. Nevertheless, he was defeated and his soul was sealed away in an ancient demonic spear called the Wargufta. His demise quickly lead to the hunting down of the other Inner Beasts. I was hunted down along with the Siren and the Twin Dragon as well, and my soul was sealed in a ancient bow called the Archaeion. The latter were weaker than me, and henceforth did not have to be sealed away. As centuries passed, the sealing spell was weakened and we escaped from our inanimate hosts. I brought the Siren and the Twin Dragon back to life with a spell while the Dark Scorpion brought his other comrades back to life and swore revenge on the world. However, we were extremely weak and needed to find people to reside in quickly. The Siren followed me into the same host, your father, staying dormant while I was active. Eventually, when he married Fielda and she gave birth, the Siren's powers were passed down to Alexis unknowingly while my powers were passed down to you. Having lost a big portion of his powers, your father was no longer able to stay in this world and had to return to his original world. He had no chance to bid farewell to your mother." The Siren added, "Which is why she never told you, Alexis. She despised him for having left her so suddenly."

    "But...... being brother and sister...... Wouldn't that mean we can't marry?" Alexis and I asked simultaneously and we clapped our hands to our mouths. She blushed. The Siren replied, "No, in this world, brothers and sisters can marry." We hugged each other. The Dark Dragon said, "Enough said, you two must train to defeat Saevio and his generations to come. You must also marry for your legacy to continue so you may have children who will keep foiling Saevio's generation's plans as long as they live on." Roy remarked, "I was surprised when I heard that you two were brother and sister. Thats why I fell out of the tree." We laughed heartily. "Anyway, bro, lets go meet mother!" Alexis said, getting up. "Okay, let's go, sis." I smiled and held her hand. "Oh yes, I forgot to mention this. Ivan is older than you by 10 minutes." the Dark Dragon said. 'Who cares?" we said and continued on towards Perion.

    Chapter 21: The Fusion Beast

    "Uhhh bro, don't you think its a little too quiet here?" I asked as me and Ivan walked through the streets near Kerning City. He replied, "Yeah...... Something's not right. What the...... Look out!" I quickly dodged aside just as a net trap fell on the ground on which I was just standing on. "Close one." he added and we continued walking cautiously. Suddenly, I heard strange voices coming from a nearby building. I started to walk faster. There was a sudden rsutling sound and Ivan disappeared. "Bro? Where are you?" I started to shout. 'In here!" Ivan's voice came from a nearby hole. I ran over and looked down. Sure enough, he was inside, dazed. "Hold on, I'll pull you out!" I said and put my hand down.

    Suddenly, there was another rustling noise and I felt a dagger on my throat. A smell of fresh blood wafted through the air. "Alexis!!!" Ivan yelled as I was yanked back roughly. The offender, a female level 58 Bandit with long hair, whispered in my ear, "Don't make a sound or I'll slit your throat." I complied and was pushed towards a nearby car. The Bandit forced me into the car and tied me up as I wondered where she was taking me. I tried to struggle but the Bandit held her dagger to my throat again. I was forced to quieten down as the car drove through Perion towards Ellinia. The Siren whispered to me, "These ropes are coated with strong magic. I cannot break them nor transform.". I sighed and replied, "I guess we'll just have to hope they won't kill me or something......". When the car finally stopped, I was forced out and felt the hilt of a dagger hit me on the head. I blacked out immediatly.

    "Alexis!!!" I yelled as I heard the sound of a car drive off, presumably with Alexis in it. I quickly climbed out of the pit trap that I had fallen into and noticed a note on the ground. It read:

    Come to the sea if you don't want your girlfirend to die, Ivan, or should I say, Dark Dragon?

    I gasped. The Dark Dragon said, "We had better go help her. Alexis is as much your sister as mine. I will take total control over your body. This will allow your body to stay in Dark Dragon form longer. Is this acceptable?" I nodded and braced for the transformation. My great black wings and tail burst out of my back and the Dark Dragon muttered an incantation. I felt my body grow longer, my hands and feet turn into black claws and my head turn into a dragon's. My wings flapped furiously and lifted my body up ino the air. I was watching semi-consciously as the Dark Dragon took control over my body and flew towards the sea.

    Back to Alexis......
    I woke up inside a crate with a big bump on my head. I massaged it and tried to peek outside. Water suddenly burst into the crate and I realized that I was in the sea. AS the water level rose, I started to choke until the Siren said, "I would suggest that you transform now. Your current body cannot breathe underwater, but mine can. Are you ready?" I replied, "Yes." and choked on another mouthful of water. My legs melded together, changing into a long, green scaly tail, my brown hair grew longer and changed colour to silver and my hands became green and scaly. My body armour completely disappeared, leaving me naked. I started to breathe easier and my hair changed colour to blue. My tail and back grew fins and gills appeared on my body. "Make sure that you leave the water within 100 minutes, or else you will be forced to stay in this form forever, Alexis. Your body will completely change if you stay in the water for too long. Also, you cannot transform back to normal while underwater." the Siren added. I gasped and tried to break out of the now cramped crate. However, the crate appeared to be coated in some kind of magic, for I couldn't break out of it no matter how hard I tried.

    Suddenly, the crate burst open and I swam out, only to find myself locked in a small and cramped cage. "Let me out!" I hollered at the nearby guards in scuba suits. They turned around and said, "We're under orders not to let you out so stay quiet! And don't try any funny tricks with your body.". I could only float silently as the timer counted down. "Ivan...... Help me..." I thought. I tried breaking the cage bars with my hands and tail but failed. The bars were apparently coated with strong magic, making them almost impossible to break. I also tried to slip my tail out of the cage to steal the guard's keys but my tail ended up being too big to fit through the gap between the bars. "I really need to go on a diet." I mumbled.

    In the air......
    *Whooosh* The Dark Dragon was making good use of the size of my wings as he flew past the passenger ship at near supersonic speed. A black ship ahead got in the way, but the Dark Dragon easily flew through it, punching a round hole through the hull and leaving a few dozen surprised Balrogs staring out. The ship eventually started to disintegrate as it fell through the air, the Balrogs inside running around helter-skelter in shock. SOme people on the passenger ship behind us were seen shakign their fists at us, apparently angry that we downed the Balrogs before they did. The Dark Dragon continued flying, streams of air flowing past his wings. Finally he said, "We've arrived. Get ready to fight." and plummeted downwards in a nosedive, spinning like a top. We hit the water head-on and kept diving. We reached a small cave in the side of a rock after a while.

    Alexis was trapped inside a small cage with two guards in scuba suits guarding her. What was surprising was that Alexis had transformed into the Siren and was naked. I regained control over my body and shouted, "Let her go!". The guards readied their daggers, went into a fighting stance and muttered, "Haste.". The next moment, they took off and I felt gashes being cut into my skin. Letting out a battle roar, I started swiping at at the perpetrators. However, they were dancing around my claw swipes easily. Being in the water wasn't helping me at all, it was slowing down my movements. Alexis shouted, "Help!" and I tried to swim into the cave. The guards were doing a good job in holding me back but I finally broke through. I fired a hot jet of water at the cage holding Alexis and broke it. She joined the battle, lashing back at the guards with her tail. Suddenly, dozens of sharks swam up from the depths, having smelt my blood.

    'Help!" I yelled as Ivan fought the guards. Time after time, he tried to get into the cave and failed, black blood seeping from the gashes in his body. Finally, he managed to break through and broke my cage with a jet of hot water. I quickly swam up to help him, lashing my tail against the guards. Suddenly a shark swam up from the depths and looked at Ivan. Another shark swam up, then another, then another. The sharks kept swimming up until about a dozen of them were in front of us. The Siren said, "Good time to merge. Both of you, are you ready?". We nodded and muttered an incantation, "Inner Beasts Siren and Dark Dragon, prepare to merge into one!"

    Darkness engulfed both of us as our bodies started to meld together. The product was a black coloured dragon with a long green scaly tail, green scaly wings and green coloured claws. It was an extremely weird feeling. Both of us were looking out of the Fusion Beast's eyes, thought and felt like one. We nodded and charged. We were surprisingly agile in the water, having combined the flying and swimming capabilities of teh Dark Dragon and Siren respectively. We lashed out at a naerby shark with our tail and slashed another four with our claws. The sharks were being attacked left, right and center, they didn't stand a chance. After 20 seconds, a lot of fresh shark carcasses were lying on the seabed. "This is powerful......" we thought as we shot upwards. Exiting the water, we deployed our wings and soared through the air. It took only 5 minutes for us to reach Victoria Island and land on the rocky plateaus of Perion, having passed the passenger ship Ivan had met earlier. Some of the passenger were blown off their feet in a split second and they didn't know what had hit them. They looked around but could see nothing.

    When we landed on the rocky surface, the fusion disengaged and we broke off, landing on the ground in our original forms. I gaped, "Whoah." and looked at Ivan. "Arrrggghhh!" I yelled as my wrist hurt suddenly. I looked at it and it was still green and scaly. I was horrified. The Siren reassured me, "It'll wear off in a while. Just don't go into the water for a while." Ivan looked over at my wrist, also horrified. "Side effect huh? You'd better be careful." he remarked and walked closer to me and held my hand tightly. I blushed and turned away. He turned me towards him and pressed his lips against mine. We had just kissed for the first time in our lives.

    Chapter 22: Maplenapped

    "I'm home, mother!" Alexis said as she knocked on the door of the house. The door swang open, apparently unlocked. "What in the world......" I gasped as I looked around the house. All of the furniture was overturned as if someone had been searching for something. "No way...... Mother! Where are you!?" Alexis shouted as she searched desperately for our mother. Her face became white as she saw a blood stain on the wall. "No...... Mother!" she gasped. While she was still mourning, I noticed a note on a table and went over to pick it up. Not surprisingly, it was stained with blood. It read:

    Alexis,
    Take care of the others while I'm gone. Who knows, I might never come back

    or I might. But whatever you do, don't die, I love you.

    P.S: It's hot here......

    Fielda

    "Strange...... My mum would never leave blanks lines like that......" Alexis mumbled, looking over my shoulder. Suddenly, it hit me. "Give me your sword." I said. Alexis gave it to me and I added, "Dark Dragon, heat this up.". The Dark Dragon replied, "With pleasure." and a burst of flame came out of my mouth and heated up the sword. I put it on the note and took it off. A few seconds later, more words appeared on the note. Now it read:

    Alexis,
    Take care of the others while I'm gone. Who knows, I might never come back
    Help me, some people have captured me and are taking me to Ludibrium.
    or I might. But whatever you do, don't die. I love you.
    I don't know what they plan to do with me, but help me!
    P.S: It's hot here
    Your brother might be able to help by flying you there.
    Fielda

    "Invisible writing......" I muttered as Alexis ran around the house, fixing what she could. I looked around and I saw a lemon and a quill on the ground. "Thought so." I thought and called Alexis over. She gasped when she saw the note. "But...... How does she know I'm with you?" I asked, puzzled. Alexis replied, "Our mother has a crystal ball hidden somewhere in the house. Now that you mention it, we'd better go look for it." We nodded and split up. I went to search the top floor while Alexis checked the bottom floor. Again, the top floor was in a mess. I quickly spotted an odd tile in the floor and drew my bow and an arrow. "Arrow Bomb." I said calmly and focused my mana on the arrow. It shot out and made a small explosion on the odd tile. I easily pulled out the now cracked tile and found the crystal ball underneath. Running down, I showed the ball to Alexis. She said, "Erm......I dont know how to use it." and scratched her head. I sighed and rubbed it to clean off some dust. Nothing happened. "Anyone home?" a voice came from the doorway. Keichii walked in and gaped at the mess. "Hello." I said, trying to fix a table. "You really need some help redecorating, ya know. Lemme help." he said, running over and knocking the table legs back into place. "This isn't my house, its ours." I pointed at Alexis. "I see...... OURS?" Keichii looked at me curiously. "We're actually brother and sister. Twins to be exact." I added, trying to fix a chair that had its legs knocked off. "Go on......" Keichii said.

    We spent the whole evening going into details, and by the end of the day, we had repaired most of the house, including the beds. I passed a few thousand mesos to Alexis and she went out for some shopping. She got back with a tablecloth, a few bedsheets, tools and nails to repair what we couldn't with hands alone and a lot of food. "Too late to fix anything now or save your mother." Keichii remarked, laying down on the floor. "I hope nothing serious happened to her...... Aren't you going to sleep on the bed?" I asked Keichii. "I prefer sleeping on the floor, keeps me on the guard. Besides, you two need some time together." Keichii winked at me and Alexis. She blushed and pulled me onto the bed. We fell asleep together, mumbling, "Good night."

    "Wake up, you sleepyhead!" I heard a voice say as I rubbed my eyes, still half-asleep. "Now where have I heard that before......" I thought and sat up. Roy was sitting beside the bed on his Relaxer. "Keichii bumped into me at wild boars last night and told me you guys were here so I came along! Wild boars bore me." he walked down, adding, "Alexis made breakfast. You'd better hurry up.". I walked down the stairs, a delicious smell of eggs and bacon wafting through the air. Alexis was at the stove in the kitchen. She waved at me as I walked down the stairs and accidentally burnt her finger. She ran around the house yelling for 5 minutes until she woke up the Siren and she put some ice on it. Keichii and Roy, who were already at the dining table, stifled laughs as an embarassed Alexis and me sat down at the table. "Be careful." I told her and checked her wrist. It was still green and scaly from yesterday. "Don't go near the water for today." I added and started eating my egg. Alexis blushed as she started on her egg. The four of us discussed our plans for today over breakfast. Keichii and Roy were going to help us save our mother. "I barely have enough mesos left for the ship though, how are we going to get there?" Keichii asked, checking his purse. A mothball came out of it and he blew it away. "My sword cost me quite alot......" he added, looking at his new Rigol sword. It was a long bar with small spikes sticking out of the side. "We're flying." I answered, halfway through my bacon. "But we can't! We dont have enough mesos!" Keichii said. I replied, "Who said we're gonna take the ship? The Fusion Beast should be able to carry all of us along with luggage.". Keichii muttered, "Now why didn't I think of that?" and slapped his forehead.

    We packed our essentials for the trip, locked the house door securely (Roy had put another lock on it) and went to an isolated plateau. "Ready?" the Siren asked. We replied, "Yes.". Alexis added, "No peeking except for Ivan." Keichii and Roy turned away, mumbling, "Geez......" as my great black wings and tail burst out of my back and I muttered an incantation, "Dark powers within me, heed your master's awakening call! Level 2 Dark Dragon form!" My hands and feet turned into claws, my body grew longer and changed into a dragon's and my head turned into a dragon's. Beside me, Alexis was also muttering an incantation. As I watched, her armour disappeared and her legs melded together, becoming a long green scaly tail. Her brown hair grew longer and changed colour to silver. Her hands became green and scaly. Both of us then muttered another incantation, "Inner Beasts Dark Dragon and Siren, prepare to merge into one! Beast Fusion!" Darkness engulfed us as our bodies started to meld together.

    Switching to Keichii's FPV......
    Darkness engulfed Ivan and Alexis as me and Roy turned around, gaping in awe. When the darkness finally disappeared, they were no longer standing there. In their place was a large black coloured dragon with green, scaly wings, tail and claws. "Get on." it said and lowered its right wing. Me and Roy climbed on its back, marvelling at the size of the beast. "Hold on tight, we're taking off." it added and flapped its wings furiously. The very next second we were in the air and I pulled out a map. "Fly to the east, past Ossyria." I quickly folded up my map and held on tight as the Fusion Beast accelerated through the air.

    Ivan's FPV......
    Alexis and me cut through the air like a hot knife through butter, passing yet another passenger ship and a black ship just about to attack it. This time, we sliced through the hull with our huge wings and flew off, Roy and Keichii holding on for their lives. The passengers on the ship gaped as the bottom of the black ship fell away into oblivion, the lower torso of a Balrog or two on it. The top half of the ship exploded, raining the passenger ship with shrapnels of bones, cloth and a surviving Balrog. It hurriedly leapt off the ship and flew off towards its home, shaking in fear.

    Author's note: Third time frightened balrogs come into the story. Lolz.

    We continued flying through the air until we saw the top of an extremely tall tower poking through the clouds. "That's Eos Tower! Land!" Keichii shouted over the wind. We immediatly decelerated and landed in Ludibrium with nearby female Cleric gasping at us. We looked her in the eyes and she tumbled head-over-heels and fainted. "Are we that scary?" we wondered as we motioned for Keichii and Roy to get off. After that, we disengaged the fusion and tumbled to the ground in our original forms. I got up and helped Alexis to her feet. Luckily no one else other than the female Cleric was around and we quickly slipped into an empty house nearby. "That was fun!" Alexis giggled, looking out the window at the female Cleric, who had just woken up. She apparently thought it was a hallucination or something as she scuttled into the tower entrance. "Not for us." Roy and Keichii said, their hair completely messed up by the wind. "Sorry." I apologized as the two of them grabbed combs from their bags and started combing their wildly messed up hair. "We need to find mother." Alexis said and commented on the other's hair, adding, "At least your hair isn't as long as mine when I transform......" The Siren muttered, "I like having long hair......".

    Chapter 23: Papulatus

    "What kind of an idiot lets a prisoner leave trails like this?" I mumbled, following a trail of cuts made by a sword that Alexis recognized as our mother's sword into the Ludibrium clocktower. Alexis, Roy and Keichii were following me, stopping to slash the occasional teddy bear, Tick or Buffy in half. As we got deeper and deeper in, we eventually reached a crossroad. We decided to split up into two teams, Roy and Keichii in one and me and Alexis in the other. Keichii winked at us and went through his portal. Alexis blushed and held my hand tightly as we ventured in.

    Author's Note: I don't really know the layout of the Ludi clocktower dungeon.

    Team 1: Ivan & Alexis
    Team 2: Keichii & Roy

    Team 1
    "How far does this clocktower go in!?" I muttered as we ventured deeper and deeper, trying to avoid the monsters as best as we could. If any monsters happened to get in our way, I would take it out with a double shot to the eyes. They were pretty easy targets once you knew their weak spots. However, we got into trouble near some vikings in ships. Their ships were blocking the line of fire to their eyes. I muttered an incantation and summoned a safe from thin air. Opening it, I took out the beam rifle inside and started shooting up the Spirit Vikings. Alexis walked cautiously behind me as we advanced through the maps.

    Team 2
    "This one one heck of a deep dungeon." I mumbled, throwing an Ilbi throwing star at a nearby Buffy's eye. It started to float around the map yelling in pain. Keichii took care of it with a Power Strike. "Seriously, how easy can these guys get?" he said, dispatching another Buffy. We continued our advance through the clocktower, I stayed in the shadows most of the time while Keichii did most of the fighting though. Finally we reached another crossroad with a giant doorway in the same map.

    Team 1
    "Bad time to run out of power!" I said and summoned the safe again, putting the beam rifle back inside. A big bunch of Spirit Vikings started to close in on us now that I no longer had my beam rifle. We went into a fighting stance, back to back. "No choice. Let's transform!" Alexis shouted and muttered, "Siren, awaken!". Her armour disappeared again, her legs melded together and became a long green scaly tail, her hands became green and scaly and her brown hair grew longer and changed colour to silver. My great black wings and tail burst out of my back and I muttered an incantation, "Dark powers within me, heed your master's awakening call! Level 2 Dark Dragon form!". My body grew longer and changed to a dragon's, my hands and feet changed into claws and my head turned into a dragon's. I let out a battle roar and started swinging my tail around. Alexis mumbled, "Ice from the North Pole, I call on thee to become my weapon! Ice Sword!" and a longsword made out of ice appeared in her hands. She gripped it tightly, shouted, "Hailstorm!" and started spinning her sword round and round. Shards of ice started to appear from it and pierce through the Spirit Vikings. "Nice one!" I shouted over and swiped another Spirit Viking. "Thanks!" she replied and slashed a Spirit Viking in half. We continued to fight our way through the Spirit Vikings until we reached the portal. Going in, we saw Roy and Keichii waiting for us.

    Reunion
    "Can't you find some clothes?" Roy said, going red. "Not like I have a choice. Get used to it, because this is how I look when I'm transformed." I replied and slithered into the giant doorway. Ivan walked in after me, then Keichii and Roy. Once inside, we noticed our mother lying beside a extremely stupid-looking assasin drooling in his sleep beside her. "I guess we found our idiotic maplenapper......" Ivan mumbled and kicked the assasin. He woke up and glanced around. "Wher' am I?" he asked. He took one look at me and went to hug me. "PERVERT!!!" I yelled and picked him up with my tail, throwing him out of the doorway. He quickly activated dark sight and fled after throwing something in front of a hole. I shook my mother awake and said, "Mother, it's me, Alexis.". She replied, "I know. I saw you transform in the crystal ball before that idiot tried to maplenap me. A very idiotic way too, he only tied my legs up." We all laughed until she added, "Get outta the way!" and leapt aside. All of us jumped aside just in time to dodge a lightning bolt. "What is......that!?" I gaped at a huge clock in front of us. "That is Papulatus Clock, one of the bosses in Ludibrium causing trouble. We'll have to give it a beating to get out of here." Fielda said, looking for her sword. Keichii threw a Rigol sword to her. She caught it neatly and said, "Thanks. Power of the heavens, infuse my sword with your powers! Holy Charge!". I gaped as Fielda's sword started to glow white. "I never knew you advanced to the 4th job!" I shouted over. She didn't respond and started to hack and slash at the giant clock. "Son, merge with Roy and Alexis. It's the only way to beat this monster!" she yelled at Ivan, Roy and me. We nodded and put our hands together in a seal. We muttered, "Inner Beasts Dark Dragon, Twin Dragon and Siren, prepare to merge into one! Tri-Beast Fusi...". Keichii suddenly muttered, "Basilisk, Inner Beast of Poison, awaken!" and his body became snake-like and changed colour to black. Wings grew out of his back and his teeth became fangs. We gaped, "I never knew you had an Inner Beast!". He replied, "I wasss sssaving it for a ssspecial occassssion! Merge with me too!". The party continued with the merging incantation, "Inner Beasts, Dark Dragon, Twin Dragon, Siren and Basilisk, prepare to merge into one! Quad-Beast Fusion!" Darkness engulfed us and Fielda retreated up against the wall, smiling.

    All four of our bodies started to merge. When the darkness disappeared, a dragon with 3 heads, coloured red, blue and black, an extremely long body with 10 rainbow-coloured scaly claws, a very long green scaly tail and 6 rainbow-coloured scaly wings. "Whoah." All of us said. I added, "Let's kick some Papulatus butt!" and we wrapped ourselves around the giant clock. Spikes of varying colours poked out of our body and pierced through the clock. The next second, Papulatus had been burnt, frozen and poisoned at the same time. Fielda was resting in the corner, watching us fight with a big smile on her face. We let go and our heads breathed purple coloured, blue coloured and red coloured air on Papulatus while our tail continued lashing it. It suddenly started to summon small, black, thorny balls that exploded as we went near them. "AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!" we shouted in agony as the balls exploded on our body. "Not good." Fielda's expression had changed from smiling to a look of horror. "Holy Charge! Sanctuary!" she cried out in quick succession as her sword turned white again and a giant white ethereal hammer hit the whole map. The balls exploded harmlessly and we continued fighting, although worn down. "You'd better de-fusion. Your big body will be bomb fodder if you keep that up!". We quickly disengaged the fusion and landed on the ground in our Beast forms, leaping back into battle quickly. Keichii shouted, "Bladestorm!" and started rotating faster and faster, the sword hitting Papulatus again and again on the same spot. It roared and summoned more bombs. I summoned my ice sword again and shouted, "Hailstorm!". The shards of ice froze the bombs and detonated them harmlessly. Ivan muttered, "Phoenix Wings!" and his wings burst into flames. He leapt at Papulatus and slashed it with his wings. Roy was alternating between bursts of fire and ice from his two heads towards Papulatus. However, Ivan suddenly started to radiate an aura of darkness and his body started to transform.

    "AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" I yelled as I felt as though my entire body was on fire. "Ivan!!!" Alexis shouted at me, slashing Papulatus with her ice sword. My body started to grow longer and grow extra wings, claws and eyes. Roy's face grew white and he gasped, "No...... Not again...... The Demon Dragon......". My mother jumped up and quickly conked me on the head with the hilt of her sword. I regained control and sank to the floor, panting. "Tha......thanks..." I thanked my mother. "Don't push yourself too hard or you'll become the Demon Dragon again. Most of the Demon Stone's power still resides inside you." she said, pulling me back. Alexis slithered over to me and checked me for wounds. "Thank goodness......" she mumbled and used her Hailstorm skill again. Keichii was still Bladestorming Papulatus while Roy started to go in close with his claws and teeth. After a while, the clock was destroyed and a little monster ejected from it. It started to fly around, knocking into the party. "Nasty little bugger." Keichii remarked and ducked under it. "Hold......on...... Puppet!" I said weakly and a scarecrow appeared in front of Papulatus. It kept crashing into the scarecrow as Roy went back to ranged attacks. Alexis muttered, "Ice, power of the North Pole, become my weapon! Ice Bow!" and a bow made out of ice appeared in her hands. Arrows made out of ice appeared out of thin air as she drew back the bowstring and fired themselves at Papulatus. "Hailstorm!" she shouted and her arrows started flying and reloading at breakneck speed. "I can use Hailstorm with any weapon." she said proudly. "Hehe...... Nice..." I replied, still feeling weak. Over time, Papulatus started to fly slower. I had recovered enough to fight again by now and I flew up into the air. "Phoenix Wings." I said calmly as my wings burst into flames and I cut Papulatus with them.

    Papulatus finally went down, mesos and items materializing out of thin air. I cheered and went to pick up the drops. There were thousands of mesos as well as a few rare equipment. Suddenly, a golden glow appeared in the miffle of all the items. Ivan gasped as he picked it up, for it was a golden bow with a dragon's head engraved on it. "A Dragon Shinebow......" the Dark Dragon said. "Hold that still." it added and black streams of pure energy started to flow down Ivan's hands into the bow. When it was done, it started levitating into the air, changing its form. The engravings filled up with energy and the dragon's head changed colour into black with red eyes. The rest of the bow was white coloured with black stripes running through it. "Behold. The Archaeion." the Dark Dragon said. "It is the only bow you can use in Dragon form. Any other bow you try to use will break." it added. As Ivan touched the Archaeion, it emitted a faint glow and vibrated. A name appeared on it when it stopped. The name was Falgazar. "Your true name appears on these weapons when you touch them for the first time. Once touched, they can only be used by the person that touched them." the Dark Dragon remarked. "So, Ivan's real name is Falgazar?" I asked. "Precisely. The Archaeion doubles my powers, so it is extremely hard to use due to the mana burn generated. If anything goes wrong, you could die. I dont suggest you use it until you advance to the 4th job." the Dark Dragon replied. Ivan said, "I'd still rather you guys call me Ivan. Anyway, get ready. I'm casting Mass Teleport. Quantum space heed my words, teleport my friends and I back to Perion! Mass Tele.......AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" Mother sighed and whacked him on the head again. "Didn't I tell you not to overdo it!? Teleporting to another continent will drain too much of your mana so make do with Ludibrium first. Ivan massaged his head and muttered, "Quantum space heed my words, teleport my friends and I back to Ludibrium! Mass Teleport!". We arrived back in the empty house with a flash of light. Most of us fainted after transforming back to normal but surprisingly, I didn't. The Siren explained, "Your body can take the strain because you have the Original Eight's blood in you. The others can't, especially Ivan. His transformation takes up a lot of mana." I sighed and looked at my mother. At least we had successfully rescued her.

    Chapter 24: Alexis, Maplenapped

    WARNING: Parental Guidance recommended due to sexual content.

    "That was exhausting......Zzzzzz..." Ivan fell asleep the moment he laid down on a bed. Roy mumbled, "I'm going to sleep......See you tomorrow..." and fell asleep too. Keichii also fell asleep. Mother said, "Honestly, its just morning. I'd better stay home and watch over these 3. You go out for some shopping. Okay?" I replied, "Sure, mother." and she handed me a few thousand mesos. I walked out the door and took the taxi to the Henesys market, wondering what to buy. "Spaghetti should be nice......" I thought and walked towards the supermarket. Along with some food items, I purchased some arrows for Ivan and some clothes. By the time I was done, it was almost evening. "Sure is late...... I really should visit Pori's store next time..." I thought as I walked back home. Suddenly, my stomach started to growl. "I'm hungry...... Better hurry back home. Hopefully the others have woken up by now." I mumbled and started to run. However, there were no taxis at the taxi stand. "Great. Guess I'll have to walk." I thought and walked north-west.

    By now, it was already night and I was walking through the dark streets of Kerning City alone and hungry. A recipe for trouble. Suddenly a few people wearing black coloured suits approached me, saying, "Hi, little girl. Want us to give you a lift home?". I refused and walked away but the group of people followed me. "You shouldn't refuse a kind offer from kind people like us ya know. These streets are dangerous at this time of night. You wouldn't wanna get captured, would ya?" they added, continuing to follow me. When I tried to run away, I tripped and fell down, too hungry to do anything else other than faint.

    In my mind......
    "I'm hungry......" I mumbled as I sat down. The Siren said, "Even I can't transform on an empty stomach. Even if I do manage to, you'll only be able to keep it up for a few seconds.". I got up and started to pace around. "Your stomach is also mine, so I'm hungry as well......" she added. "Help...... Ivan......" I thought.

    Back at Fielda's house......
    Ivan sneezed over a cup of hot coffee. "Bless you." Fielda said.

    Author's Note: Second time. Haha.

    Back to Alexis......
    I woke up in the back seat of a strange car, tied up and gagged. The men in black suits were in the car as well, two were beside me while one was driving. "You're awake huh? You need to pick somewhere else other than the street to faint. Anyway, you're our hostage now! Hahaha!" one of them said. "Whats your chest measurement eh, girl?" another one asked. He added, "Oh, I forgot you can't talk. I guess we'll just have to measure it ourselves!". I realized who they were. They were the Fidelo Gang, a group notorious in Kerning City for raping, maplenapping, murdering and arson cases. I tried to struggle out of the ropes but they were too tight. I couldn't transform either as I was too hungry. I regretted walking through Kerning City and now I could only hope Ivan would come and save me.

    At Fielda's house,
    Ivan sneezed again. Fielda asked, "Do you have a cold or something?"

    Author's Note: Third time, same person. Lolz.

    Back to Alexis again......
    The car finally stopped and one of the Fidelo Gang carried me out of the car into a nearby warehouse, which I thought was their headquarters. One of them opened a door and the one carrying me walked in. The inside of the warehouse was surprisingly clean, tidy and even painted white. I was thrown onto the floor and some of the men went into a nearby room, coming out again with knives and guns. I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for that fateful moment when the cold blade of a knife or a bullet would pierce through me. Surprisingly, I felt my body loosen up and I opened my eyes. They had cut the ropes binding me and taken off my gag. I shouted, "Let me go!" and ran for the door. However, one of the men shot my leg with his gun and I fell to the floor, pain shooting through my leg like a lightning bolt. Blood seeped from my wound as I tried to get up, limping for the door on my uninjured leg. Suddenly, the door closed and shut tight and the Fidelo Gang laughed. I knew I was beaten and slumped to the floor, crying. The men closed in on me and put on gas masks. I only had a split second warning before they gassed me with a strange-looking gun. I started to lose consciousness as I fell to the ground.

    For some reason, I was still awake, the gas had only rendered me paralysed. "Just so you can watch us do something with your body." one of the men said, retrieving a knife from his friend and starting to cut open my armour slowly. I couldn't move because of the gas. I thought, "Those sickos...... Someone help me please......" and tried to move my hand. It lifted up in the air a few centimetres and fell limply to the ground. One of the men took a measuring tape from his pocket and pulled it around my chest, being very careful to touch it. He whooped and shouted, "1 metre! We got an excellent one, boys!". The other men whooped and cheered as I lay on the ground, half-naked and helpless. They were just starting to cut open the rest of my armour when a Bandit came in from the window, landing on the ground. It was Afrodita! She shouted, "You sickos! How dare you rape my sister! You'll pay!" and drew her dagger. How she lost I didn't know, but the next minute, she was lying beside me, a bullet in her right arm and another in her left leg. "Way to go...... sis..." I muttered weakly as the Fidelo Gang cut up the rest of my armour and threw the pieces away. They then got to work on Afrodita, cutting through her clothes like a hot knife through butter. The guy pulled out his measuring tape again. "89 centimetres? Nothing compared to her!" the guy said and went back to me. "This girl will fetch a good price on the slave market...... Especially when she's naked! Hahahahaha!" the men shouted in glee.

    Suddenly, there was a crashing sound and one of the men fell mid-laugh with an arrow in his chest. Ivan was looking in the window sternly as he loaded another arrow. "Jake! You bastard! I'll kill you!!!" one of the men said, firing his gun at Ivan. He fired another arrow and it hit the bullet in mid-air, knocking it out of the air. "What!?" the guy with the gun said and ran into a nearby room. When he came out with a chaingun, another one of his companions was dead on the floor, blood spilling out of a wound. "Rico! Now I'm mad...... You're dead!!!" the guy roared, firing a stream of bullets at Ivan. He calmly said, "Arrow Bomb." and fired an arrow. It exploded on the first bullet, destroying all the other nearby ones. When the smoke cleared, Ivan was gone. "What the..... Where is he!?" the one remaining guy shouted, looking around wildly. He got his answer when a bow suddenly crashed down on his head from behind. He fell to the ground with a dent on his head and Ivan standing behind him, his Ryden grasped in his hand.

    Ivan calmly walked over to me and uncorked a bottle. He dumped the contents into my mouth and I was able to move again. He then uncorked another one, dumping it into Afrodita's mouth. Ivan dropped clothes and armour on us and turned his back to us, sitting down. "Get dressed. Both of you." he said. We quickly got dressed just as a dark figure appeared in the warehouse, looked around and said, "Where is that damn gang who dares to rape my sisters!?". Jullian looked at me and ran over to me saying, "Thank goodness you're all right!" and looked over me. Spotting the bullet lodged in my leg, he stabbed his staff into the ground and said, "Magnetise!". The bullet in my leg and the ones in Afrodita's arm and leg flew out and stuck to his staff. He quickly canceled the spell before a chaingun hit him. It landed harmlessly on the ground with a clank. Ivan uncorked a bottle full of a white liquid and dripped the contents on me and Afrodita's wounds. They healed and I was able to get up.

    "Thanks." I thanked Ivan and Jullian. Afrodita ran over to the leader of the Fidelo Gang and looked him over. "His brain got crushed. He's dead." Jullian said coolly, conking him on the head with his staff. Afrodita said, "Good riddance. One less gang to deal with in Kerning.". Suddenly, I started to lose consciousness and toppled to the ground. I saw Ivan running over to me just as I blacked out.

    "Alexis!" I shouted as I ran over to her. I caught her before she hit the ground and laid her down safely. I checked her pulse and it was starting to weaken. "She's too hungry." Jullian diagnosed, laying his hand on her stomach. "Darn it!" I said and started to run for Henesys, thinking Kerning wasn't safe. "Hold it!" Afrodita said behind me. She was checking the Fidelo Gang's warehouse and had found some food and water. "Wake her up." she added, carrying a plate of chinese noodles over. I quickly shook Alexis awake and Afrodita put the plate in front of her. She started to eat it as we watched, worried. A few minutes later her pulse had stabilized and she was healthy again. "You had me worried back there......" I told her. "Sorry Ivan...... Guess I shouldn't have walked through Kerni......" she fainted again. Jullian said, "Let her sleep, she's too tired from today.". I heaved a sigh of relief and put her on my back. I carried her back to Perion with Afrodita and Jullian following.

    Chapter 25: Intermission

    Note: This is a cutscene, not an actual chapter.

    Dark Castle......
    A crusader clad in black coloured armour walked through the shadowy halls of the Dark Castle, his sword sheathed on his back under his Black Napoleon. As he walked through the halls, he bumped into an extremely-stupid looking assasin walking the opposite way. "Watch where you're going, Josh." the crusader said and walked off. Josh accidentally stumbled onto the foot of a statue of a knight and the foot sank into the ground. "Uhoh." he said and braced himself. A hole opened up in front of the crusader. However, he jumped over it without looking and continued on his way, mumbling, "Seriously, I don't even know why Saevio is keeping him in our group. That guy is one heck of a stupid idiot.". Josh looked at him in awe and ran for his room, thinking, "I'm lucky to be alive."

    Fielda's house......
    Ivan was training for his upcoming battle against Saevio, running a few laps and doing a few push-ups daily. Alexis was honing her sword-fighting skills, training with Keichii. Normally the training usually ended with Alexis being disarmed and Keichii smiling. Alexis was only able to disarm Keichii once or twice daily, usually a lucky one. Roy was training in the nearby mountains on wild boars, looking forward to becoming an Assasin. There was the occasional "Alexis burns her finger while making breakfast" event that always ended with the Siren putting some ice on her finger. Fielda, on the other hand, was revamping the house, adding new items here and there. One day it was an ornamental sword, the other it was a grandfather clock that reminded Ivan of his original world. There was also the time when Fielda accidentally dropped the ornamental sword while cleaning it and it landed on Ivan's foot, who just happened to be walking past. He hopped around the house on one foot, howling in pain for a minute with Fielda chasing him around apologizing. Other than those particular events life was pretty peaceful for them.

    SonicBoom49's house in Henesys......
    The couple were doing their weekly house-cleaning when a Crossbowman burst in the door with a dog after him. They laughed and shooed it away. The Crossbowman hurriedly apologized and left. SonicBoom49 started to wonder what was happening to Ivan then. Quiet14 asked about their whereabouts in Henesys and ended up back at square one. They decided to check out the rest of the island one day.

    Somewhere in the frozen lands of El Nath......
    A Hunter with blue hair wielding an Olympus shot a junior yeti between the eyes and it somehow managed to survive, transforming into a giant yeti. The Hunter cursed and tried to shoot it but the quakes interrupted his aiming frequently, causing him to miss. A F/P Wizard with red hair stepped in laughing and fired a flaming arrow at the giant yeti's rear. The arrow singed its buttocks and it howled in pain. The Hunter quickly finished it off with a few shots to its vital spots. "You know, Lorelei, I could have taken that sucker on myself." the Hunter said. Lorelei chuckled, "Doesn't seem like you were handling it too well, Zephyr." Zephyr sighed and drank from a bottle full of white liquid. "I guess so." he added. Lorelei said, "You need to loosen up a bit. Even since we left the Dark Ten, you've been so serious." Zephyr replied, "It's worrying...... Saevio could come and take our lives anytime. That's why I need to train harder and become stronger to protect you." Lorelei blasted a junior yeti behind Zephyr and said, "You're doing this for me? You're so sweet...... And you might wanna watch your back." Zephyr fired an arrow behind him without looking and heard a satisfying howl of pain from a giant yeti.

    Chapter 26: Preparations

    "Ouch ouch ouch!" Alexis howled in pain as she burnt her finger on the stove while making breakfast yet again. "Fifth time." I thought, trying very hard not to laugh. However, Keichii couldn't hold it back any longer and burst out laughing. Alexis went red as an annoyed Siren put some ice on her finger, saying, "Learn not to get your finger burnt! I'm tired of this routine." Alexis hurriedly apologized as Fielda served breakfast, bacon and eggs. Someone knocked at the door and I went to open it. A very wet Roy was standing outside on the early morning rain. "My claw is gonna rust!" he said and went into the house, grabbing a cloth to wipe his claw. "Bad time to rain." I remarked, looking out the window. "At least its good for the flowers." Fielda commented, sipping a cup of coffee. We spent the rest of the morning playing poker. Roy managed to win most of the time until we found out he was cheating by hiding cards in his sleeves. He lost quite a few times after Keichii shook the cards out of his sleeves laughing.

    Note: I don't know how to play poker.

    "Full house!" I said as I laid my cards on the table. Fielda smiled and slapped her cards on the table, yelling, "Straight flush!" The rest of us sighed and got to another round. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door again. "I'll get it!" I said and headed for the door, wondering who it was. I didn't need to open it as it slammed into me just as I was about to turn the knob. "Hi guys. Took us a while to find you." a familiar voice said. "Where's Ivan?" another familiar voice asked. "You slammed the door into him." Alexis replied, laughing. The door was quickly closed and SonicBoom49 said, "Ivan, are you okay? Sorry about hitting you like that." I walked towards a nearby sofa woozily and sat down, replying, "I'm okay. Warn us before you pull that off again okay?" Quiet14 remarked, "Okay. Nice house by the way." Fielda said, "Thanks." as the couple turned towards her, asking, "Who's she?" I replied, "She's Alexis's and my mother, Fielda. Mother, meet two of our friends, SonicBoom49 and Quiet14. Quiet14 curtsied neatly while SonicBoom49 bowed, both saying, "Nice to meet you, madam." Fielda replied, smiling, "Same to you."

    SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 joined us for a few rounds of poker and then went to look around the house, which we had renovated. It now featured an archery range of two thousand metres in the backyard, a fighting dojo inside, a few extra bedrooms and even a mini library. Fielda used to complain about the cost until I managed to sell off some of the drops we got from Papulatus for a decent amount of money, 10 million to be exact. She now spent most of her time in the dojo, training with Keichii. Me and Roy occupied the archery range, trying to see who could shoot or throw further and more accurately. Alexis hogged the library, studying cooking, other home-making skills and the occasional swordfighting book, which techniques she took pride in showing to me. I decided to stay some distance away after she lost her sword over a failed Bladestorm and nearly sliced off my head with the flyaway sword. It took about 1 centimetre off my hair as I ducked. The sword stuck itself high on the wall. Keichii had to get a ladder, climb up to it, retrieve it and give it back to the embarassed Alexis. Because I would be needing more skills to defat Saevio, I asked for a few archery books from Athena, who gladly obliged. Alexis started to read those as well and became quite proficient in using a bow, although she fumbles with the string sometimes. Once, she practically blew herself up when she tried to strap bombs to her arrows. They exploded before she fired them and we had to leave her in a bedroom for a few days recovering. The Siren was heard to mutter, "Honestly!" as I checked on her every now and then.

    "I win!" Roy shouted as he ran down the archery range to his throwing star, embedded in the bull's eye of the target some 1000 meters down the strip. I huffed and fired an arrow at another target 900 meters away. It bull's eyed as well. I then fired another one and it flew down the range, splitting the existing arrow in half. Roy gaped at me, "Nice...... Too bad throwing stars are too hard to split." I looked in the archery books Athena had given me and flipped through the pages before coming to rest on a neat technique. I closed my eyes and imagined my arrow splitting off into a hundred more. "Cluster Shot!" I shouted and fired an arrow of concentrated mana. Sure enough, it burst apart in mid-air, but the result wasn't exactly what I had envisioned. The arrow itself broke up in mid-air before hitting the target. I rechecked the book and found out that I needed to use an actual arrow to perform the skill instead of a soul arrow. I tried it again, yelling, "Cluster Shot!". This time the arrow split apart neatly in mid-air and a hundred arrows pierced through the target. Roy retorted with, "Javelin Strike!" and threw a hundred throwing stars into the air above a target, blasting them with mana mid-fall. The throwing stars hurtled to the ground and embedded themselves neatly in the target. "Nice." I called over and flipped to another skill that I was interested in. It was called Mirage Arrow and it involved firing an arrow that would split up into four with only one being the real one. I concentrated my mana into the arrow and sent it flying with a shout, "Mirage Arrow!" The arrow split up into four and flew towards the target. When it hit, there was only one arrow in the bull's eye.

    "Bladestorm!" Alexis yelled as she spun around in circles, twirling her sword. Suddenly, it broke free of her grasp and flew towards my feet. I rolled towards the side to dodge it. "Sorry. I just can't keep my grip on!" she hurriedly apologized and went to retrieve her sword, which was stuck in the wall. "It's okay." I replied, setting up a dummy in a corner. She concentrated her mana into her sword and said, "Aerial Strike!". She slashed her sword from a distance at the dummy and rippling waves of air cut it in half. I clapped my hands and chucked a potion bottle at her. She caught it neatly and drank it. "Lets see how many you can take down with one attack!" Keichii called over from the corner and carried fifteen dummies over, placing them in various positions around the dojo. "No problem! Typhoon Slash!" she replied, tracing magical symbols on her sword. She did a 360 degree spin in the middle of the dojo, whirling her sword around. A spiralling wave of water appeared around her and rippled outwards, knocking the dummies off their posts and getting me and Keichii wet. "Nice move." Keichii called over, drawing his Rigol sword and muttering, "Fire, heed my call. Fire Charge!" his sword started to glow red and he used it to dry our clothes.

    SonicBoom49 and Alexis were at it in the dojo, with the two thieves chatting and watching from the sidelines. I was outside on the balcony, gazing at the bright moon smiling at me in the night sky. The Dark Dragon asked, "Matters on your mind, young one?". I replied, "I wonder if the moon is like this in my original world...... I can't recall my past..." The Dark Dragon said, "The gods probably have sealed your memories to prevent you from thinking of the past. For now, you must put all your energy into defeating the evil plagueing this world." I sighed and sat down cross-legged. I could have sworn I saw a dark shadow flying across the night sky, but I thought nothing of it and went back inside the house. Roy had broken out the Monopoly set and was in the middle of a game with Alexis, Keichii and Quiet14. However, he appeared to be winning. We found out later, he had stacked the "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards. They made him swear never to cheat on our games again and restarted the game. That night, when we went to sleep, I stayed awake for a few minutes, pondering my past. Alexis woke up in the middle of the night and we went to sit on the balcony together to do some stargazing.

    Chapter 27: Alexis's Disappearance

    I woke up in the middle of the night after a strange dream, my head pounding. I went to wash my face in a nearby well. Staring into my own face in the bucket of water, I wondered what Ivan's original world was like. I had never been there before due to the interference from last time. I went into the library to read a few books since I couldn't sleep and after a while, I heard the sound of a bowstring twanging. I looked out the window to see Ivan practicing. He was using the Homing Arrow skill to hit targets out of his line of sight. I admitted, he was good. I got bored of the books after a while and went to sit on the balcony, staring at the stars. Ivan joined me after a while. I asked him, "You're early.". He replied, "Yeah. Weird dream woke me up. I dreamt you were sick.". I gasped, "Same here." He said, "I hope you don't become sick......" We gazed at the stars until the sun rose. Hearing a call of, "Breakfast is ready!" we went down the stairs together. Fielda was serving breakfast to Keichii, Roy, SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 already. We sat down at our respective places on the table and ate quietly, thinking over our dreams.

    The next morning, both of us were woken up early by the exact same dreams as yesterday and we went to stargaze on the balcony. I started, "Same dream as yesterday." Ivan looked at me and said, "You too?" I gasped. "Probably true then...... Watch your health." I placed my head on Ivan's shoulder. He turned me towards him and moved his head closer to mine. I did the same and closed my eyes. Suddenly, Roy poked his head out of the door and caught us just when Ivan's lips were a centimetre away from mine. We hurriedly broke away and blushed. Roy smiled, "Do continue with whatever you're doing." and walked downstairs. Ivan glanced at the door, pulled me closer and kissed me. It felt like a bolt of electricity passed through me as I hugged him tightly. Our happy little moment was interrupted by a shout of "Breakfast is ready!" from the kitchen. We walked downstairs and sat beside a smiling Roy. Fielda grinned at us as Keichii, SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 walked downstairs. We had our breakfast quietly. After a while, I asked, "Anyone wanna go jogging later?". Only Ivan accepted and I could have sworn I saw the others wink at me.

    After breakfast, we went up to bathe and change. I went into the bathroom first, while Ivan waited outside. I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed, pulling out a measuring tape from a nearby drawer and measuring my waist. I had slimmed 5 centimetres ever since my diet started. "So far so good." I thought and got into the bathtub. Suddenly, my back started to hurt. I put my hand to it and I felt a small protrusion. I thought nothing of it and continued to bathe. However, halfway through, my body transformed without a warning. My legs melded together and became a long green scaly tail. My hair grew longer and changed colour to silver while my hands became green and scaly. I yelled in my mind, "Siren! What did you do that for!?" The Siren replied, half-asleep, "Wha....what? I didn't transform you!". "Then what is it!?" I retorted. The Siren said, "I can't sense anything!". Suddenly, my entire torso became green and scaly, my tail grew a metre longer, spikes grew out of my back and a small horn protruded out of my forehead. I looked in the mirror and shrieked. Ivan called in, "Is something wrong?". I hurriedly replied, "No, nothing!". Suddenly, my body started to feel hot. My head felt like it was about to burst and I immersed it in the water. "Aaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!" I screamed as my body started to hurt all over. I felt the protrusion on my back grow larger and I fainted after seeing Ivan burst into the bathroom.

    I woke up feeling extremely hot on a bed. Ivan was beside me with a tub of cold water beside him. "You caught a very strange fever." he explained. I looked over my own body and it was still in exactly the same condition as earlier. "Uhhhh...... Lemme get dressed." I muttered, going red. I used my tail to pick up my clothes and get myself dressed. However, the shirt I was trying to put on vanished into thin air when I put it on. I tried another one and it met the same fate. "Strange......" I mumbled and accidentally picked up a swimsuit. "Better than nothing." I thought and put it on. It melded into my body when I put it on though. I sighed and thought, "Guess I'll have to stay like this......" and fell asleep. Ivan joined me in the bed after he ate dinner. The rest didn't disturb us as we slept.

    When I woke up the following morning, the clothes I had tried to put on yesterday were on the floor. The swimsuit was missing though. When I got out of bed, my body was perfectly normal again. I quickly got dressed and woke Ivan up. We descended the staircase to eat breakfast with the others. They bombarded me with questions about yesterday but I didn't answer and continued eating. Fielda looked worried as she served breakfast for us. I wasn't bothered for the next few days and I gradually forgot about it. However, one day, while I was in the bathtub humming a song, I noticed a dark figure peeking in the window. I glanced at it and it disappeared. Continuing to bathe, I thought nothing of it. Suddenly, I blacked out after feeling a small prick on my back.

    When I woke up yet again, I was in the exact same warehouse where I had been brought to last time I was maplenapped. What's more, I was chained to the floor, tied up and gagged. I wondered what was going on as a door opened and a female Bandit wearing a bathrobe that showed most of her body walked in. She looked at me fiercely and nodded to a nearby person in black suit. That person seemed to...... shiver as he ran to pull a lever. The entire floor I was on suddenly sank into the ground like an elevator and a metal plate closed off the entrance. The Bandit walked towards me and drew her dagger. I recognized it as the same dagger that had been held against my throat during my first maplenapping. I tried to yell for help but the gags wouldn't let me. She laughed as the elevator came to a stop. We were in a room with vats in it. I recognized the vats as well, they were in the same room as me when I first awakened. "No way..." I thought and tried to transform. However, something blocked my transformation and I was electrically shocked. Writhing in pain, the Bandit unlocked my chain and pressed a button on the floor. An empty vat rose out of the floor and the Bandit threw me into it, cutting my binds and removing my gag on the way. I banged on the vat but she merely laughed at me and left. The green liquid started to rise out of the vat floor and fill the entire vat. As the water level rose to my chest, I held my breath. Then, the liquid completely filled the vat and I started floating in it. When I could hold my breath no longer, I was surprised that I could breathe inside.

    Suddenly, a few tubes fell out of the top of the vat and connected themselves to my body. They started to inject some kind of strangely coloured liquid into my body as I struggled to stay awake. More tubes suddenly rose out of the bottom and connected to me, injecting more of the liquid in. The green liquid around me suddenly changed colour into red and pain seared through my body. I gasped as my torso started to transform. It became long green and scaly. Also, I grew extra arms and my hands became claws. I tried to break myself free but the vat walls were just too strong. I ferverently hoped someone would come and save me until I saw Ivan being brought in as well. My jaw dropped as I banged on the vat walls. The female Bandit looked at me and smirked. She opened the top of my vat and dropped Ivan in. He was unconscious. As I glared at the Bandit, the colour of the liquid in my vat changed colour again, this time to clear white. Pain seared through my body again and my body started to grow larger. As time passed, my body grew too big for the vat I was currently in and the bottom of the vat opened up. I slipped into the space below and landed on hard floor with a thump. I gazed around at the sheer size of this tank. It was large enough to fit a whale. I glanced up and the exit was closing. More liquid was poured into this tank and I was submerged again in an hour.

    Suddenly, thousands of small tubes stuck themselves to my body. I shrieked in pain as a lot of liquid was injected into my body. By now, Ivan had woken up and was staring at me in horror. He tried to pull off the tubes but as he pulled, my skin hurt. "Darn it!" I heard him say. A tube with a sharp end pierced through his leg suddenly. He howled in pain as blood seeped out from the wound. I started to cry as Ivan swam over to me and tried to comfort me. A few seconds later, my legs forcefully melded together to form a tail far longer than my normal Siren form could make. More tubes burst out and connected to my tail. As the pain shifted to an extremely unbearable level, I started to slip into unconsiousness.

    Chapter 28: Intermission
    Note: Cutscene again. If I write a cutscene, you'll know I'm having writer's block.

    I woke up in my bed at home, panting and sweating severely. I looked over myself and heaved a sigh of relief. Apparently all that had been a nightmare, for my body was completely back to normal. I went to the balcony and looked outside. Ivan was training like normal at the archery range. "Good thing that was just a nightmare." I thought and sat down on the balcony to meditate. The Siren remarked, "An extremely bad nightmare. If you have dreams or nightmares, I will also experience them." After meditating for a while, Ivan spotted me and went up to talk to me. "You fainted in the bathtub." he said. "Ivan...... I had a very bad nightmare......" I ran crying into his arms. "I had a feeling it was something like that. You kept calling my name so Fielda called me up." he frowned. I shook my hair back and talked with him for a few hours.

    Chapter 29: Nightmare Come True

    "I sure hope that was just an ordinary nightmare." Ivan said. "Hope so......" I replied, trembling as I thought back to what had happened in my nightmare. "Anyway, lets get to sleep. It's pretty late." he added, walking into our room. I followed him in, changed into pyjamas, got into bed and pulled the covers over us. "Good night, sleep well." he muttered. I stayed awake for a while, thinking things over. I wondered who the female Bandit could be. For sure it wasn't Afrodita, as she would never do something like that and she didn't wear clothes that revealing too. I fell asleep after a while and awoke to a smell of freshly-made breakfast. I walked down, yawning and sat down at my usual place at the table. There was an air of seriousness hanging over the usually happy party gathered there. Fielda had a grim look on her face as she served my toasted bread. Roy was glancing around as if scanning for an invisible intruder. Keichii's sword was on his lap instead of his back. "Who wants to go jogging later?" I asked. Again, only Ivan accepted. We went up to bathe and change like yesterday. However, today, my body didn't go crazy with the transforming and I exited the bathroom normally. I heard Ivan heave a relieved sigh and go in to bathe himself. However, the protrusion on my back was still there, hurting only slightly.

    As we waved at the others, opened the door and exited the house, Roy and Keichii ran up to the balcony to watch us leave. They went back in once they were satisfied that I was okay. We jogged around the rocky plateaus, stopping to watch the sunrise every now and then. It felt...... peaceful. Interrupted only by the occasional stump or wild boar, which I usually took out in a punch, we jogged around peacefully. We returned home to find the others looking at me. "Nothing happened to her." Ivan said calmly and they returned to minding their own buisness. We then went out again in swimsuits and swimming trunks for a dip in the nearby stream. Again, Keichii and Roy watched us from the balcony. We swam around for about half an hour without anything happening and then returned. We went up to our room for a little chat and Ivan told me about most of the events that had happened when he first arrived in this world. I gasped when he told me he had used arrow bomb as a normal archer and defeated an Iron Pig but I guess it wasn't much of a surprise, since he has the Dark Dragon within him. However, I started getting serious when he mentioned a female Bandit wearing very revealing clothes. As he described her, I quickly put two and two together and concluded that that Bandit, Silfa, was the one that had appeared in my nightmare. I told Ivan about it and a grave look appeared on his face. I decided to go take a bath as it was starting to become hot. Perion evenings are hot most of the time. I wondered why my mother didn't want to settle down in Henesys.

    I started to hum a song while in the bathtub and I suddenly realized it was the exact same tune from my nightmare. I quickly looked around and made sure no one was around and picked up my soap. I was just about to use it when I spotted a dark figure in the window. My face grew white and I immediatly ran for the door. Just as I was about to turn the doorknob, I felt a prick on my back and I knew I was done for. I collapsed to the ground unconsicous.

    When I woke up, I was in the exact same warehouse in my nightmare, and also in the exact same condition, chained to the floor, tied up and gagged. I tried to struggle lose as a door opened and a female Bandit wearing a bathrobe that showed most of her body walked in. She looked at me fiercely and nodded to a nearby person in black suit. That person seemed to...... shiver as he ran to pull a lever. The entire floor I was on suddenly sank into the ground like an elevator and a metal plate closed off the entrance. The Bandit walked towards me and drew her dagger. I recognized her as Silfa, the Bandit Ivan had described. I tried to yell for help but the gags wouldn't let me. She laughed as the elevator came to a stop. We were in a room with vats in it. Everything was exactly the same as in my nightmare. "No way..." I thought and tried to transform. However, something blocked my transformation and I was electrically shocked. While I was writhing in pain, Silfa unlocked my chain and pressed a button on the floor. An empty vat rose out of the floor and she threw me into it, cutting my binds and removing my gag on the way. I banged on the vat but she merely laughed at me and left. The green liquid started to rise out of the vat floor and fill the entire vat. As the water level rose to my chest, I prayed for help as the liquid completely filled the vat and I started floating in it.

    Suddenly, a few tubes fell out of the top of the vat and connected themselves to my body. They started to inject some kind of strangely coloured liquid into my body as I struggled to stay awake. More tubes suddenly rose out of the bottom and connected to me, injecting more of the liquid in. The green liquid around me suddenly changed colour into red and pain seared through my body. I gasped as my torso started to transform. It became long green and scaly. Also, I grew extra arms and my hands became claws. Exactly like my nightmare too. I tried to break myself free but the vat walls were just too strong. I ferverently hoped someone would come and save me until I saw Ivan being brought in as well. My jaw dropped as I banged on the vat walls. Silfa looked at me and smirked. She opened the top of my vat and dropped Ivan in. He was unconscious. As I glared at Silfa, the colour of the liquid in my vat changed colour again, this time to clear white. Pain seared through my body again and my body started to grow larger. As time passed, my body grew too big for the vat I was currently in and the bottom of the vat opened up. I slipped into the space below and landed on hard floor with a thump. I gazed around at the sheer size of this tank. It was large enough to fit a whale. I glanced up and the exit was closing. More liquid was poured into this tank and I was submerged again in an hour.

    Suddenly, thousands of small tubes stuck themselves to my body. I shrieked in pain as a lot of liquid was injected into my body. By now, Ivan had woken up and was staring at me in horror. He tried to pull off the tubes but as he pulled, my skin hurt. "Darn it!" I heard him say. A tube with a sharp end pierced through his leg suddenly. He howled in pain as blood seeped out from the wound. I started to cry as Ivan swam over to me and tried to comfort me. A few seconds later, my legs forcefully melded together to form a tail far longer than my normal Siren form could make. More tubes burst out and connected to my tail. As the pain shifted to an extremely unbearable level, I started to slip into unconsiousness. However, by a miracle I managed to stay awake to tell Ivan, "This...... is...... exact.....ly...the....sa....me....as....my..nig... .htmare...... AAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" My entire body thickened and big spikes grew all the way down my body to my tail.

    In the control room...... (Silfa's FPV)
    "Why is this idiot here!?" I shouted as DeathLord plunked a stupid-looking assasin into a chair nearby. He said, "Saevio doesn't want him messing up things in the castle so he put me in charge of him. Anyway, how's the prisoner doing? Mutation okay?" I sighed and replied, "Everything is A-okay. Problem is, that girl is actually kinda sexy. Seems like wastage to mutate her body. JOSH, YOU STAY AWAY FROM THAT OR I'LL MURDER YOU!!!" Josh stopped, his finger halfway to a button labeled, "Do not press" DeathLord muttered something about an incompetent fool and turned to watch the girl's mutation. She was now about as long as a whale. "About time we rele......JOSH!!!" I yelled at Josh, but it was too late. His finger had already pressed the button from earlier. DeathLord swore, "Sh!t! (Sometimes I wish there was a fanfic section without a swear filter) I wish I hadn't brought him in here!" Sirens and klaxons sounded throughout the area and we left, dragging Josh behind us. The button he had pressed was the self-destruct button!

    "AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" I screamed as the tubes continued pumping more of the liquid into my body, which was now even longer than a whale. Suddenly, sirens and klaxons sounded and the tubes disconnected themselves from me. The pain stopped and I was able to look around. I grabbed Ivan with one of my claws and swam upwards. I used my tail to break the tank wall and the liquid previously all around us flowed out. Suddenly, I noticed my body was changing back to normal and I sank to the floor, relieved. Ivan pulled me up and limped towards a nearby walkway on his uninjured leg. "We need to get out of here." he said weakly. I was just about to transform when the Siren interrupted, "That liquid pumped into your body is still around. Don't transform or you'll become a monster." I ran into the control room and found a sack full of potions someone had left behind stupidly. I dragged it out and dripped the contents of a bottle someone had labeled "White Potion" on the wound in Ivan's leg. The flesh regenerated and Ivan got up. We quickly ran for the exit as a voice announced over a loudspeaker, "T-minus 40 seconds to self-destruct!" We got back into the original warehouse only to look outside and find the door barricaded by police. We noticed three figures smashing a window and escaping through. Unfortunately for them, the police saw them and started to chase them. I nodded to Ivan and we climbed up a ladder to the windows, smashing one of them. We escaped onto the roof of another building nearby unnoticed just as the loudspeaker announced, "T-minus 0 seconds to self-destruct! Sayonara!" and the entire building exploded. We were too late to escape the full force of the explosion however, but Ivan grabbed a black and white coloured bow out of thin air and twirled it around, saying, "Barrier Shield!". A shield materialized in front of him, blocking most of the debris. I glanced at the bow. It was the Archaeion! The Dark Dragon said happily, "He's been practicing summoning it while you guys weren't looking!". After the ruckus was over, the Archaeion disappeared into thin air and I started to lose consciousness, toppling to the ground below the building. Ivan cried, "Alexis!!!" and held my foot, barely managing to stop me from my death. He pulled me up and retrieved a wet scroll from his pocket, muttering an incantation while holding my hand. I fainted when we arrived in Perion.

    I woke up with the rest of the party surrounding my bed. They heaved a sigh of relief and walked out of the room, leaving Ivan with me. He held my hand as I said weakly, "Thanks for saving me...... What about the liquid injected into my body?" Ivan replied, "A doctor came and removed most of it. However, some was already completely absorbed into your body and I'm afraid you'll suffer some side-effects." I sat up hurriedly, the protrusion on my back stinging me. Ivan removed it smoothly. It was a small object the size of a button. "This device isn't needed on you." he said and threw it out the window into the stream. I put my hand on my chest and felt something strange. I looked at it and noticed it was scaly. "The doctor was a female so don't worry." Ivan said, apparently having read my thoughts. At least it was just that part of my body and nowhere else. "Do you still love me?" I asked, blushing. "Since when have I stopped loving you?" he replied, laughing. He then hugged me. I felt a stream of tears rolling down his cheeks and I hugged him back.

    Chapter 30: Let's Paaaaarrrrtyyy!!

    "Yes!" Alexis shouted as she exited the home of Dances with Balrog. She had just made the second job advancement to a Fighter. "Nice!" I called over and added, "What did they test you on?" She replied, "Strength only." I said, "Nice. Mine was accuracy and dexterity. Had to run through a room full of spikes coming out of the walls and split a toothpick in half from 1000 metres away. I barely managed to pass. Sorry I only just told you.". "Wow. I only had to break a few bricks in half with my hands. It's okay." She replied. I looked at her hands and sure enough, they were slightly bruised. "Here." I said and tossed a bottle with red liquid in it at her. "Thanks." she replied and dripped it on her hand. The bruises disappeared. "Let's go find Roy. He should also be making his job advancement now." I added, retrieving a scroll from my bag, holding Alexis tightly and muttering an incantation. The scroll disappeared and we were in Kerning City.

    We found Roy just as he was about to enter the Dark Lord's home. He said, "Wish me luck!" and went in. He came out a minute later smiling. "So fast?" I asked. He replied, "All I had to do was dodge a spike coming out of the floor when I entered. Piece of cake!" He twirled one of his throwing stars on his finger and neatly passed it over to another finger. I decided to test him and silently drew my bow. Loading it with an arrow, I fired it at Roy's foot. He caught the arrow with two of his fingers and smiled. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Here." he said, throwing a box at me and another one at Alexis. I caught mine nicely but Alexis fumbled with the box and dropped it. Luckily, she caught it before it hit the ground, going red. We opened them to find cellphones. "Just so we can keep in contact with each other." Roy added, smiling. We walked back to our house.

    "Surprise!!!" Fielda shouted as we walked in the door. The house was decorated with ribbons and even balloons. There was also two cakes on the dining table. "Huh? What's with the cakes?" I asked, a quizzical expression on my face. "In case you forgot, today is your birthdays!" Fielda said, laughing. I had totally forgotten my birthday because of all the things that had been happening. Then again, today was also Alexis's birthday since we were twins. I asked, "Whats the date?" Fielda replied, "May 26. Its your 18th birthdays!" Alexis looked at me, blushing. I gazed at the cakes. "Enough! Let's paaarrrty!" Keichii grinned at us from the top of the stairs. Suddenly, Jullian and Afrodita burst in the door. "Don't forget us!" they said, smiling. SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 arrived a while later, having returned to their Henesys home for a few days. "I see you two have made second job!" Quiet14 said. Alexis and Roy replied, "Yeah!"

    We spent the whole evening partying. There were games and food and everything you would expect to see during a party. Jullian and Afrodita stayed overnight. while SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 returned to their house after bidding us, "Happy Birthday!!!". While Alexis was in the bathroom, I went out to the balcony to look at the night sky. Suddenly, I heard a scream from the bathroom and I asked Alexis, "What happened?". She hastily replied, "No, its nothing.". I thought something was wrong and waited for her to come out. When she did, nothing was wrong with her, other than her hair, which appeared to be longer than usual. "What happened to your hair?" I asked her and she blushed, replying, "I asked the Siren to grow it out longer. Since I'm a Fighter now, might as well change some things.". "What was with the scream?" I asked again and she replied, "A strange mark appeared on my waist. It hurt when it appeared." I looked at the mark. It was something green coloured that appeared to be...... pulsing. When I put my hand on it, it suddenly came out of her skin, leaving a small bleeding hole. "This is...... some of the liquid from last time!" I remarked as Alexis hastily dripped some orange potion on the hole, healing it. I quickly removed the liquid. As Alexis looked at her chest, she smiled and said, "It's changing back to normal now.". I knew what she meant and I didn't want to look at it.

    The next morning, when I woke up, Alexis's long hair was covering my face. I sneezed and got up. Alexis woke up soon after and I decided not to tell her. We went down for breakfast, which was a chunk of unfinished birthday cake from yesterday and some milk. Jullian joined us and asked, "You ready?" I replied, "For what?". He merely grinned and ate his breakfast. As we were about to go to train, Afrodita held us back, smirking. I wondered what was going on and I soon got my answer. A deliveryman called on us and Fielda got the package. Actually it was two packages and Fielda called the rest up to open it. Keichii went up, winking at us. Alexis and me stood downstairs, looking at each other. Alexis was called up and she went upstairs. I was called up a few minutes later and Afrodita pushed me into another room.

    Chapter 31: Wedding

    I gaped at the package laying open on the floor in front of me. There was a wedding suit inside. I turned to Fielda and uttered, "You...... you......" She grinned and motioned for the others to leave the room. Alexis walked into the door, carrying her package. She pulled me into our room and we tried them on. They were a perfect fit. Alexis's wedding dress was a long, white dress with a flower on her chest. Her shoes were white high-heels. Mine was a smart black coloured suit with a black coloured hat and shoes to match. She looked at me and blushed. I glanced at her and she looked so beautiful my jaw dropped. "Do I look... weird?" she asked, twirling around. I stammered, "Uhhh...no.... You look.... beautiful! Really!". She smiled at me and hugged me. I saw the door open a bit and Roy peeked in. He smiled and closed the door quietly.

    The wedding was scheduled for a week later, on June 2nd at Henesys. I hurriedly rushed to Kerning City to buy a wedding ring but Fielda presented me with a set of diamond-studded ones before I could leave the door. For the rest of the week, Alexis debated on what she should wear while Fielda got busy preparing me. Jullian was going to be the priest at the wedding and he smiled at us as he walked past. Invitations were sent to all our friends. The night before the wedding, Alexis and me went for a walk under the moonlight. "I can't believe that this day is coming so fast." she gazed at the moon. "Yeah. Me neither." I replied, holding her hand. "Ouch!" Alexis pulled up her shirt to reveal more green liquid. I removed it quickly and dripped orange potion on the holes in her skin. "I hope those won't come out during our wedding." she muttered. I nodded as we continued our walk, either shooting or slashing monsters that came too close to us. We returned to the house after a while and went to sleep.

    The next day, the house was in a complete ruckus. Fielda ran around us, fixing up our clothes. Roy, Keichii, Afrodita and Jullian were dressed smartly, with Jullian's being a white robe. He was the priest after all. We cramped into a few taxis to go to Henesys, and the trip took an hour. "Here we are!" Fielda said as the taxi stopped in front of Henesys Park. Most of our guests were already gathered there, SonicBoom49 and Quiet14 being just a few of them. They waved at us as we entered the nicely-decorated park and Jullian took center stage for his speech. When he finally finished it, Alexis and me walked up the red carpet, holding hands. The guests fell silent as we walked up to Jullian and he asked us a few questions seriously. We agreed to all of them, signed a few documents and he said, "I pronounce this couple, husband and wife.". The guests cheered as we put our rings on each other and kissed. We were now officially married. As we descended the stage, most of the guests shook hands with us and wished that we live happily ever after.

    When we returned home that day, there was another small-scale party at home. Fielda asked me, "As the head of the house, you're to make the decision regarding where you'll be living." I replied, "We'll continue to stay here." and Alexis hugged me even tighter. Suddenly, she vomited on the floor. The others gasped and Roy ran for the cloth. Alexis covered her mouth and glanced around. "No way......" Keichii mumbled. I saw Alexis put a hand to her stomach and she gasped. I put my ear to her stomach and my eyes widened. I could hear two heartbeats! Fielda pushed me away and put her ear to Alexis's stomach. Fielda had the same reaction as me and she announced, "She's pregnant!". All the others cheered and I hugged Alexis. She was crying tears of joy as she hugged me back.

    That night, while the others were all sleeping, I went to sit on the balcony yet again. I put my hand to my stomach and smiled. Ivan joined me on the balcony and asked me how I felt. "I'm feeling fine. Our baby came out rather fast don't you think?" I replied, smiling. "I wonder if its a boy or a girl." he said, putting his ear to my stomach again. "I can't tell." I sighed. Suddenly, I vomited again. "That's common for a pregnant woman." he remarked calmly. More of the green liquid came out of my body and Ivan removed it again. "I wonder why that keeps coming out." he said. I suddenly felt like I needed the toilet and ran in. When I looked in the toilet bowl after I was done, there was even more of the green liquid there and I hurriedly flushed it and rejoined Ivan. "Lets go to sleep." Ivan said and we went to bed, a happily married couple.

    Chapter 32: Now You See It, Now You Don't

    "Lets go to Kerning City for some shopping!" I called to Ivan as I ran down the stairs. "Okay!" he replied and followed me. "Take care, you two!" Fielda shouted, waving at us as we ran to the local bus stop. We checked the timetable and waited for a while. A few other people came also. After a while, the bus arrived and we got in, paying the fare on the way. We picked seats at the very back. An Assasin with black hair got in and sat beside us. He was acting pretty strangely too, sneezing every now and then and wiping his nose with his hand. I moved away from him. The bus finally started and we left for Kerning City. As I looked out the window at the scenery, I seemed to feel someone watching me. I glanced around and the Siren whispered, "Someone is watching us. I can feel it.". Ivan whispered back, "I don't sense any magic or anyone looking at us." I said, "Probably just my imagination." and looked out the window again. We were now entering the streets of Kerning City. I noticed the wreckage of the warehouse that I had been held prisoner in last time I was maplenapped. I shivered and Ivan put his hand on my shoulder, reassuring me. Finally, the bus stopped and we got off.

    The both of us went towards a grocery shop. Ivan looked back and told me, "That weirdo assasin seems like he's following us.". I hurried up with my shopping at the shop and went to a fish shop. Again, the assasin followed us. I started to get scared as we hurried to a meat shop. The assasin followed us yet again. Ivan noticed a dark alley nearby and nudged me. We went through the alley into another section of the market and blended in with the crowd. Ivan muttered, "He's following us all right." as the assasin strolled casually through the alley and disappeared into the crowd. We resumed shopping normally. Suddenly, I felt someone touch my buttocks and I turned around, looking around wildly. No one suspicious was in sight. Then again, the city was full of thieves and more than a hundred of them would be perverts. I decided to let it slip and walked towards the supermarket, thinking about buying some milk powder.

    As I walked towards the supermarket, I noticed a nice little bakery nearby and looked in the window. Suddenly, I heard a strange noise and the bakery exploded, raining the area with glass pieces from its windows. I took the brunt of the explosion, having been looking in the window and was thrown back. Glass pieces from the windows buried themselves in my whole body and I howled in pain, fainting almost immediatly.

    "Alexis......" a strangely familiar voice said. I tried to move my arms but I couldn't, they were hurting too much. "Hold on...... Alexis......" the voice said again and I opened my eyes. I was inside an ambulance on a stretcher. Ivan was beside me, holding my hand. "Wha.... what happened?" I managed to ask painfully, my entire body hurting all over. "You were caught in a bakery explosion and the glass windows buried their pieces in you." a nearby doctor said, moping her forehead. She was checking my body and pulling out whatever glass pieces she could see delicately. When my stomach was clear, Ivan put his ear to it and listened. He gasped in shock. I knew what had happened before he told me, the baby was dead. I cried softly as the ambulance stopped and my stretcher was carried into a hospital. I was immediatly rushed into the operation room and a surgeon injected me with something and I fell asleep.

    When I woke up, I was bandaged all over and Ivan was sleeping on a chair, his head on my bed. I looked outside and there was smoke being emitted from a burning building. I started to cry. My arms still hurt too much to be moved. Ivan woke up to the sound of my crying and said, "Alexis...... The baby is......" I replied, crying, "I... know...*sniff*... Dead..." Tears started flowing out of his eyes as a shocked Fielda walked in the door, followed by the rest of the party and the doctor. He said, "You're lucky you're a Fighter. Any other person would die from injuries like that, but you lived. However, your baby is a completely different matter......I'm sorry, but we couldn't save her. It was a girl." I cried even harder and buried my head in my pillow. Ivan tried to comfort me but I just cried even harder. The doctor added, "You can still give birth though. Your reproduction organs are still functional." Those words comforted me slightly and Ivan held my hand. Fielda was also crying while the other members of the party looked very serious. As I turned to look at Ivan, he held out something and explained, "I found this on your pants. It's a device that will trigger a bomb when it moves within a certain radius. In this case, it was the bakery." I suddenly remembered that someone had touched my buttocks earlier. I told him and he replied grimly, "An assasination attempt."

    Somewhere else in Kerning City...... (Saevio's FPV)
    I walked into a dark alleyway and snapped my fingers thrice. A secret door opened and I entered, the door closing up behind me. DeathLord was sitting at a chair in the room, arms folded. "I trust that everything went well?" I asked with a cold tone in my voice. He replied, "Yes. Everything went exactly as planned. The bomb exploded at the right time and the girl was blown up.". "Excellent." I said. "You will be rewarded for this." I added. "Thank you, Master." he said and drew his sword. "I still don't understand why you won't let me drive a sword through her heart!" he added furiously, slashing a box clean in half. "I do not wish to kill her, I merely wish to drop their morale." I replied.

    Alexis......
    A week later, I was released from the hospital and I went back to the house. Even so, I spent most of the time crying over my daughter's death. Ivan would come and comfort me at those times and say, "It's no use crying over split milk." Eventually, his words convinced me and I returned to my normal lifestyle. However, I still spent some nights crying in a corner.

    Chapter 33: Intrusion & The Exzas Beasts

    "Sweet......" I swam in the stream near our house at night. I stopped to float on my back for a while and gaze at the moon. Trying not to remember my dead daughter, I paddled too fast and rammed into a rock. I spluttered and massaged my head, feeling a big bump there. I sighed and got up, walking towards the house. When I reached me and Ivan's bedroom, Ivan wasn't on the bed. Nowadays, he went to practice on the archery range every night. I went outside and sure enough, I heard a bowstring twanging. Suddenly, I heard something snapping and he mumbled something about flimsy bowstrings. I walked upstairs and into bed, pulling the blanket over me. I needed to get stronger so I could protect myself instead of him protecting me all the time. The Siren said, "You'll need a tutor for that. Also, how's your diet going?" I sat up and ran into the bathroom for the measuring tape. I pulled it around my waist and checked it. It had slimmed by another 5 centimetres. I heaved a sigh of relief and went back to bed.

    The next day......
    *Clang!* I woke up to the sound of swords clashing and sat up, running to the balcony. Fielda was dueling Keichii yet again. "You're getting better!" she said, panting. Keichii replied, "You're the same too!" and started fighting again, also panting. I went down to make breakfast and found Ivan and Roy staring out the window at the two duelists. As I bustled around the kitchen, Ivan said, "Try not to get your finger burnt again." I blushed and then got my finger burnt yet again. Roy remarked, "Tenth time." and went back to watching the duel. I quietly washed the burn mark and went back to making breakfast. The Siren said, "At least you've learnt not to ask me for help with these stupid matters." I went red and put breakfast on the table and went to workout in the house's new gym. Fielda complained about the cost when I wanted to have it built, but I settled it easily by paying the costs out of my own pocket. Ivan also helped and when we were done, there was a gym with a complete set of equipment. I went on the treadmill first. Keichii joined me after a shower, panting after his duel with Fielda.

    Suddenly, I heard someone knocking on the door. When Roy went to answer it, there was a clashing sound, then another, then another. There was a shout of "Help!" and then there was more clashing sounds. "What the...... Who the heck are you!?" I heard Fielda yell as there was more clashing sounds. Ivan ran into the gym and pulled me off the treadmill to the archery range. "What's going on?" I asked, scared. He replied, "Someone burst into the house and started attacking us. You'd better stay back and let me handle it." and hid me behind a target. I peeked out and saw Ivan stringing his bow and nocking an arrow to the string. A stranger wearing black clothes and a black cape appeared afterwards and charged towards him. Ivan let out a battle cry and launched his arrow. The intruder deflected it easily with a sword and jumped at Ivan. He rolled out of the way and fired another arrow at the latter. He deflected it easily again and slashed at Ivan. He rolled out of the way just in time only to get slashed in the arm. The intruder had jumped to his side with lightning-quick speed! "Too slow!" I heard him say and he slashed Ivan again. Blood splattered onto the target as Ivan narrowly managed to block it with his new Red Viper that I had bought for him a few days ago at the market. The intruder smiled and kicked Ivan in the stomach with his right leg, sending him flying across the range limply. I could tell that the intruder was a professional just by his moves. Ivan got up, coughing blood as the intruder rushed at him again. He raised his sword, poised to strike until I stepped out from behind the target, shouting and unsheathing my sword. He turned towards me and charged, his sword pointed straight at me. I blocked it and kicked him in the groin. However, it didn't work out well. He grabbed my foot as it went up and threw me high into the air. Then, he walked underneath me and pointed his sword upwards. I started spinning my sword around in mid-air, tracing magical symbols on it and yelling, "Split! Wind Strike!". My sword split into half and became a double-bladed sword. I spun it around in the air and wind started to gather around me. I used the wind to attack the intruder, forcing him to jump aside and let me land safely.

    Suddenly, a sword pierced through my leg. I sank to the ground clutching my wound as the intruder withdrew his sword and prepared to deal the final strike, gripping his sword with both hands and pointing the tip towards my chest. I closed my eyes and thought, "At least I'll get to see my daughter......" but the pain never came. Instead, there was a small explosion and I was blown away. Ivan was standing and looking at the intruder with a look that I had never seen before. His eyes were completely black and emotionless. I could also see a strange mark burning black on his arm. He put his bow on the ground and shouted, "Archaeion! Come to me!". A black and white coloured bow with a engraving of a dragon head with red eyes materialized in his hand. The eyes started to glow blue and the limbs turned into blades while the string melded into Ivan's arm. He knelt to the ground, his hand grasping the bow, or rather, two-bladed dagger. "Dark Assaulter." I heard him mutter and he took off at a speed so fast I couldn't see him. The intruder smiled and took off at a speed matching Ivan's. The two clashed, sword and dagger flashing so fast there were sparks flying everywhere. I heard shouts ringing through the air as the grass was uprooted and blown away by their fighting. I stuck my sword into the ground to avoid being blown away and watched their fight in awe. Suddenly, the two broke off from each other and landed on the grass. The intruder was panting but Ivan wasn't even blinking. His dagger became a bow again and he shouted, "Infernal Strafe! Final Attack!". Four fiery arrows flew out of nowhere towards the intruder, followed by an arrow shining gold. The intruder deflected the first four arrows only to get knocked back by an explosion from the shining arrow. Ivan smiled and shouted, "Firestorm!" and unleashed a flurry of fiery arrows. The intruder said, "Bladestorm!" and created a protective barrier by the whirling of his sword. The fire was repelled back towards Ivan but he blocked it with a shout of, "Barrier Shield!" and twirling his bow around. Suddenly, the intruder got behind him and stabbed Ivan in the heart. I screamed. However, Ivan didn't even flinch as the surprised intruder pulled his sword out of him. The wound healed itself as Ivan elbowed him in the groin and swung his bow back at the intruder, shouting, "Power Knockback!". He was knocked back a few metres, although unhurt due to his armour. He got up again and charged at Ivan, apparently thinking of taking off his head now. Ivan nocked a strange-looking arrow to his bow and started to concentrate his energy into it. The intruder continued his advance, undaunted as Ivan continued charging. Suddenly, he shouted, "HYPERION BLAST!!!" and let the arrow fly. It glowed gold and black as it flew towards the intruder. His eyes widened in horror and he ducked the shot. It cut a bit of his hair off and left a dent in his armour, purely by the air pressure. He gasped but continued fighting, still determined to kill Ivan. He nocked six arrows to his bow and let them go one at a time, shouting, "Stellar Combo Shots! Alpha Shot, Beta Shot, Delta Shot, Gamma Shot, Omega Shot, ZETA SHOT!" Each of the arrows flew outwards in exactly the same angle and trajectory. The arrows appeared to meld in mid-air and become one big gold coloured arrow that streamed trails of ice, fire, thunder, poison, light and dark. The intruder focused all his energy on his sword and held it against the force of the arrow. The arrow hit his sword and kept going, pushing him back almost a kilometre before disappearing. His sword was scorched from the force of the shot, but it held. He cursed and retrieved a scroll from his pocket, tearing it apart and jumping in a rift. It disappeared as soon as he went through. Ivan's eyes suddenly blanked out and the Archaeion disappeared as he collapsed to the ground. I quickly ran to him and checked his pulse. He was breathing very weakly. I carried him onto our bed and ran to check on the others. They were merely knocked out by the intruder and were alive. Reassured, I went back up to check Ivan. I sat down beside him and waited for him to move. He didn't even twitch a muscle after 4 hours. Fielda had woken up and was anxiously waiting for Ivan to return to us as well. Even after the next day, his eyes remained blank and he hadn't even moved a millimetre. I checked his pulse again and he was still breathing weakly. I wondered what had happened to him as I sat beside him all day.

    A week later......
    Ivan still hadn't moved yet. We had called every doctor in the area and they were baffled. Even Grendel The Really Old was puzzled when we called him. He hadn't seen anything like this in his entire life. The only person who wasn't puzzled was Athena Pierce. She said she'd come here immediatly to see Ivan and hung up. She was knocking on the door the next minute and I opened it, greeting her anxiously. She walked up the stairs and into our bedroom. She rolled back his sleeve and pointed at a mark. "Ivan exhausted all his energy trying to control the Demon Dragon. He did a pretty good job of it too. See this mark? It only appears when a person has complete control over a Exzas Beast. Exzas Beasts are the upscale version of Inner Beasts, usually acquired via certain procedures. For example, Ivan's Dark Dragon transformed into the Demon Dragon when he swallowed the Demon Stone." she said. I asked, "Ivan exhausted all his energy? Does that mean......" Athena replied, "He's barely alive. Controlling an Exzas Beast isn't a very easy thing to do. So far I've only seen people who have reached the fourth job fully control an Exzas Beast. Ivan is the youngest to have ever controlled one of them. There's only one way to revive him, and it's extremely dangerous. You must defeat the monster known as Zakum and bring back it's heart. At your current level of training there is only a 0.001% chance of you succeeding. Zakum is one of the strongest monsters in the world and the path to it has many dangers. Few have faced it and come out alive." I shivered as Athena explained. "I can say that Ivan is as good as dead now, unless you can defeat Zakum. To do that, you must also be able to control your Exzas Beast, the Leviathan." she added. I gasped, "How do you know I have an Inner Beast?" She said, "Grendel has been watching your progress and he has kindly informed me of it. Best of luck to you. You will need it." and left the house. I stared after her and looked at Ivan. "How in the world am I to control my Exzas Beast if that happened to Ivan when he controlled his!?" I thought furiously and started to cry on Ivan. The Siren comforted me, "Your Exzas Beast is the one which you almost fully transformed into back at the warehouse. It's slightly weaker than the Demon Dragon, and even it can't take down Zakum easily." All she did was make me cry harder. "Do you want to save him or not!?" she shouted at me. I wiped away my tears and said, "Yes. But how!?". The Siren replied, "Your last transformation at the warehouse has awakened the Leviathan and it is ready to test you. You'd better get away from the house if you don't want it to get leveled." I ran out of the house onto a separate empty and isolated plateau. "I'll break the power seal once you're ready. You will have to defeat the Leviathan by yourself, without my help. One thing, once you try for this test of inner strength, you can never turn back. Should you fail, your mind will be destroyed and your mindless body will start wreaking havoc on the whole world. Should you pass, you will be granted full control over the Leviathan and you will be able to save Ivan." I gasped, "The Leviathan is a monster! How am I going to beat it!?". The Siren sighed and replied, "That is up to yourself. Are you ready?" I took a deep breath and said, "Yes. I'm ready." I felt something shatter inside me and my body transformed. My legs melded together and became an extremely long green scaly tail, my armour broke into pieces as my body sprouted 3 pairs of extra arms and became green and scaly. My arms became green and scaly and my hands became claws. My hair also grew longer and changed colour to green. Spikes grew out of my back and grew all the way down to my tail. When my transformation was done, my body grew larger and my scales thickened. I quickly coiled up on the plateau to avoid being seen by anyone looked upwards and the Leviathan said, "Cloak.". My entire body seemed to become invisible and I heaved a sigh of relief. "This question will decide your future. You may either live with this body for all eternity and be spared or go into my mind and take my test. Which will you select?" the Leviathan spoke. I gulped and replied, "I choose to take the test.". The Leviathan said, "Very well. Prepare yourself!" and I blacked out.

    Chapter 34: Examination

    WARNING: Parental Guidance recommended due to sexual content.

    I woke up inside the Leviathan's mind, which was a spectrum of colours. As I got up, it materialized in front of me. It was a humongous green coloured serpent with 6 pairs of eyes. Looking at me curiously, it said, "So you are Alexis. Get ready for the test.". Suddenly, the spectrum around me started to change. It became dry, cracky and uneven, like the plateaus of Perion. As I gazed around in awe, the Leviathan knocked me off my feet with its tail. When I tried to get up, it knocked me off my feet again. "This isn't even worth my time." it said, smiling. I got up just in time to jump over its next tail lash. It was almost impossible to beat, my mind thought. "Yes. I am almost impossible to defeat." it said. I gasped, "You can read my mind!?". It smiled and nodded, knocking me off my feet again. "Okay. Playtime's over." it added and coiled its tail around my body. As I struggled to break free, I felt the coils tighten and squish my body, slowly but surely. I drew my sword and hacked at its tail to no avail, its skin was too thick. "I'll grant you my powers if you can somehow make me bleed. I'm willing to go multiple rounds." it said, dropping me to the floor. I was defeated for that round. For the next few rounds, I charged at it with my sword, hacking and slashing to no avail. It merely laughed at me and flung me off. As time passed and more rounds were lost, I was starting to lose hope.

    Suddenly, I thought of Ivan. "I can't give up yet! Ivan needs me!" I thought and charged the Leviathan with a battle roar. My sword only left a small mark on its tail and it wasn't bleeding. "It has to have a weakness somewhere!" I thought ferverently. "Yes I do have a weakness. My eyes. I doubt you'll even get up there though." it said with a laugh, throwing me off my feet. I got up again and thought, "I just wish I could somehow repay Ivan for how he saved me during my last maplenapping......". I could have sworn I saw the Leviathan's face turn red. It hit me like a brick. I started to smile and I said, "I know how to make you bleed!". It replied, "And how might you do that?". I needed to do this to save Ivan, and I had had to do it numerous times while transforming into the Siren, so it wouldn't matter to me anyway.

    I started to take off my clothes. The Leviathan's face grew an even brighter shade of red and it asked, "What are you doing?". I had finished taking off my armour and was now taking off my underwear. When I was done, I was standing naked in front of the Leviathan. It's face grew even redder and it coiled me up in its tail again. Suddenly, it got a nosebleed. Crimson red blood came out of his nostrils and completely covered me. I shook the blood off myself as the Leviathan said, "That was cheap. However, a deal is a deal so I'm granting you my powers. PUT THOSE CLOTHES BACK ON BEFORE I TAKE CONTROL OVER YOUR BODY!!!". It put me down and I quickly put my clothes back on, not wanting to stay naked any longer. The scenery returned to the spectrum of colours as the Leviathan disappeared and I woke up on the rocky plateau, a green coloured serpent-shaped mark on my chest. The Siren said, "Nice trick. I could have thought of that myself though. I like going around naked, but showing my body to men is just......". I replied, "I know what you mean." and looked around for my armour. It was in shreds lying beside me, having been broken when I transformed. I was also tired from the fight.

    As I walked home naked, I tried to avoid being seen by people and slipped in the back door only to bump into Fielda just going to look over the archery range. She looked over me and gasped, for I was covered in bruises where the Leviathan had lashed at me with its tail. She carried me upstairs, taking care not to get seen by the boys and into my room. She dressed me quietly, treated my wounds and laid me on the bed for a rest after looking at my Exzas Mark. When she tried to wipe it off, it wouldn't come off. I fell asleep the moment I flopped onto the bed beside the still lifeless Ivan. I woke up a full day later to the smell of pizza wafting through the air. When I got downstairs, the rest of the party was already seated and waiting for lunch to be served. I took my place and looked at an empty chair, thinking about Ivan.

    When I went into the library to check on a world map, I suddenly fainted. I woke up later on me and Ivan's bed, an anxious Fielda beside me. "Your body was exhausted real bad. Take a look." she said and pointed at my waist. I gasped. It was as thin as a unused roll of toilet paper. "It doesn't matter, I was on a diet anyway." I said, smiling. She sighed and left the room. Keichii approached me later and said, "To get to Zakum's lair, you need to go to El Nath and go deeper in through the Dead Mine. There are a lot of strong monsters there so be careful if you do go." I thanked him and went into the bathroom. I thought things over a bath and smiled at my idea earlier on, although it might have cost me humiliation beyond belief. I was now able to rescue Ivan. "Hold on Ivan. I'm coming!" I thought as I got out of the bath. Suddenly, I stepped on a bar of soap and fell over. I hit the ground with a thump. Getting up, I massaged the bump on my head and thought, "Somehow, I need to get less clumsy......"

    Dark Castle...... (DeathLord's FPV)
    I paced to and fro my room, looking at my scorched and cracked sword. I had tried everything possible to fix it, but it wouldn't work. Reforging it had no effect other than scorch it further. Sticking it into cold water only evaporated the water. Knocking it on the castle wall only cracked it further. That boy really was powerful to use a technique like that. I would have to think twice about fighting him in the future. I suddenly thought of his blood. It might just be powerful enough to reforge my sword! But then, I had no weapon to fight him with as my sword was already broken. As I cursed, Silfa walked into my room. "You should have knocked." I said. She replied, "Who cares? Anyway, Saevio's asking for you. I don't know why, but he looks really pissed." I shivered and marched off to the throne room, where Saevio usually was. When I reached there, I immediatly felt an air of evil hanging around. Saevio's cold voice rang through the air, "Ahh, DeathLord. You deserve a punishment for making Ivan stronger than he already is." and I felt like my body was on fire. I fell to the ground, writhing in pain as Saevio walked towards me, his Fairfrozen on his back. "Your battle caused Ivan's Exzas Beast to be awakened and now he can control it. Make sure that something like this does not happen again. I am assigning William to watch over you. He has orders to kill you should you disobey my orders again." he said coldly as a dark figure stepped out of a nearby door and bowed to him. I got up and walked to my room, holding my arm. When I got back, Silfa was still there, looking at me. "I heard Saevio's voice ringing through the air. He must be really mad to use that voice." she said, sweeping back her long blonde hair. Her bathrobe dropped to the floor yet she made no movement to pull it back up. I tried not to look at her as she walked in front of me. "What's wrong? Oh, my bathrobe. Ahhh, what the heck, I'm tired of having to pull it up all the time." she muttered and threw her bathrobe out the window into the moat. She ran at me and pushed me onto my bed. She closed and locked the door with a little spell and slowly unstrapped my armour. "You're a bit of a hunk." she said dreamily, running her finger over my bare chest. I desperately tried not to look at her naked body. "Remember the girl we tried to mutate the other day? Who do you think is more sexier, me or her? I heard a rumour flying around that the Fidelo Gang measured her chest and it was a metre. I have a chest of 1.1 metres, just so you know." she added.

    Chapter 35: Attacked

    "Darn it! I'm going to miss the ship!" I thought as I dashed through the green forests of Ellinia towards the Sixtopia Station. As I ran in the gate, I skidded to a halt in front of the ticketing station, asking, "How much for a ticket?". The clerk looked up from her magazine and replied, "8000 mesos.". I put 8000 mesos on the counter and she gave me a ticket. I quickly ran for the ship as the horn blew and jumped onto it, barely managing to hold onto the railing. I pulled myself up and looked around. The ship was crowded with people on holiday and some people who were minding their own buisness. I went to the bow of the ship and inhaled some fresh air. Air like this was quite hard to come across in Perion and Kerning City, for it was usually polluted with smoke. I pulled out the Relaxer chair Fielda had given me when I was still a little girl and sat on it, gazing at the sky. I wondered how Ivan was doing. Suddenly, the ship shuddered as it went through an air pocket and I fell off my chair, as did many others. They got up, brushed off the dust on their clothes crossly and sat down again. I folded up my chair and went onto the sail. I could see some children playing and running around on the deck as some of the passengers laughed at those that had slipped. I smiled and retrieved my cellphone from my back pocket, intending to call back home.

    Suddenly, the prow of a black coloured ship suddenly poked out of the clouds. I gasped and quickly ran for the cabin, tucking my cellphone back into my pocket. The other passengers were also running in quickly, some screaming, some trembling. I was suddenly pushed back by a hysteric wizard who locked the cabin door behind him and sealed it. Some people were trapped outside and began ramming the door. Inside, I could hear the wizard screaming. I looked at the prow of the ship as it began to descend and ram our ship. I started to shiver as two Crimson Balrogs leapt off the ship and landed on our deck, snarling. I drew my sword and prepared to fight, but the other passengers were shrinking back, excepting a Crusader, who drew his sword and stood beside me. He motioned for me to retreat and charged with a shout. I stood back as he went into battle, furiously swinging his sword repeatedly at a nearby Crimson Balrog. I noticed one sneaking up behind him and I yelled, "Typhoon Slash!", tracing arcane symbols on my sword and slashing it in an arc. A wave of water appeared out of nowhere and hit the Crimson Balrog. It turned around and began charging a bolt of black lightning. I rolled out of the way just in time, the bolt missing my arm by a hair's width. I began to focus my energy and I shouted, "Rage!". I could feel my attack power increase as I pointed my sword forwards and charged towards the nearest Crimson Balrog. I closed my eyes, ready for a spurt of blood, but it never came. I opened my eyes to find myself dangling in mid-air, held by a Crimson Balrog. It snarled and started to use me as a mace to attack the Crusader. It ducked the swipes as I started to get dizzy from all the whirling. I stabbed my sword into the beast's wrist and it roared in pain, releasing me. I landed on the deck roughly, nearly sliding off the edge. Getting up, I got ready to transform. The Siren said, "No! The deck is too slippery! If you transform and start fighting, you'll slide off the edge!" I replied, "Transforming is my only hope now. I can't use the Exzas Beast as the ship will surely break apart with my weight. Siren, embodiment of ice and water, awaken!". My armour disappeared as my legs melded together, forming a long green scaly tail. My brown hair grew longer and became silver coloured. My hands became green and scaly as I sheathed my sword and placed it on my back. "Ice, power of the North Pole, become my weapon! Ice Sword!" I said. Flecks of water appeared from the air around me and gathered in my hands and froze, forming an icy sword. I began to slither towards the nearest Balrog but the deck was too slippery. I lost my grip and slid towards the edge of the deck.

    Suddenly, a hand reached out of nowhere and grabbed my tail. The Crusader was tying my tail to the mast as he looked back at me and smiled. I pulled myself back up and started to twirl my sword around after tracing some symbols on it. "Hailstorm!" I shouted as icy projectiles emerged from my spinning sword and flew towards the Balrog. It blocked the attack with its wings and tried to fly up. I smiled as the Balrog realized it couldn't take off as its wing was frozen. It snarled at me and fired a lightning bolt at my body. I easily dodged it and shouted, "Ice Sword, Spear Form!". My sword became a spear and I began to stab the Balrog. It grabbed the spear and flung it away. I retreated and summoned another weapon, this time a bow. I drew the bowstring as icy arrows materialized in my hands. I thought of the shot Ivan had fired when he was fighting the intruder and tried to perform it. The arrow I had nocked to my string started to change shape as I yelled, "Hyperion Blast!" It flew out, trailing a golden stream of light. It pierced through the Balrog's arm and exploded, blowing the arm off into the sky. Not exactly the effect I wanted, but it served its purpose. The Balrog began to charge towards me as I hurriedly nocked another arrow to the string. However, I fumbled with it and dropped the arrow. I nocked another arrow just as the Balrog got in my face. "Eep." I said as the Balrog slashed me with the claws on its one remaining hand. My body flew backwards and I hit the railing, bleeding severely. As the Balrog closed in, I tried to nock another arrow to the string only to find the bow in pieces. It got in my face again and prepared to deal the finishing blow.

    Suddenly, the Balrog stopped mid-swipe. A sword protruded through its chest and I quickly got out of the way. It fell to the ground as the Crusader pulled his sword back out and cleaned it of the blood on it with a wet cloth. It was shining brightly again as he sheathed it. Yet another Balrog leapt off the ship, this time carrying something strange. He pulled something out and threw it at us. I glanced at it and gasped. It was a grenade. I picked it up and threw it off the ship just before it exploded. I heaved a sigh of relief and looked at the Balrog only to find more grenades flying in my direction. The Crusader started to bat the grenades off the ship with his sword as I summoned an icy spear and started stabbing it. It howled in pain and flew back to its ship. It flew away. What a cowardly Balrog that was. As I watched the black ship flee, the idiotic wizard that had locked us out earlier came out and apologized to us, only to look at me and go red. Suddenly, the knot tying my tail to the ship loosened and I slipped off the ship, losing consiousness. I felt someone grab at my tail only to lose his grip on it. I fell to the ground below rapidly, blood seeping out of my wounds and I fainted.

    I woke up freezing in a mound of snow. I quickly got up and looked around. The scenery was white with snow and dotted with trees and it was snowing really hard. I was lucky the snow had broken my fall. I tried to move but my tail was frozen solid. I hadn't transformed back to normal when I fell. Suddenly, pain shot through my body and I fell to the ground, clutching my wounds. I was going to die here, if not from starvation, from either excessive bleeding or the weather I was in, the middle of a snowstorm. My body started to feel numb from the cold and my teeth chattered. I started to shiver and lose consciousness again. I eventually fainted.

    Chapter 36: Rescued

    "Brrrrr...... It's freezing." I muttered as I trudged through the snow. I sneezed quite a few times and rubbed my hands. Suddenly, I noticed an unsually big mound of snow and went to look at it. The snow was fresh and as I looked it over, I saw a finger poking out of the snow. "What the......" I said as I started to shovel the snow away with my hands. "Is anyone in there!? Can you hear me!?" I shouted as I moved the snow. I eventually came across silver coloured hair and I dug faster. When the snow was completely removed, I gasped. It was the girl from back on the ship! What's more, she was completely naked. I quickly checked her pulse. She was still breathing, but very weakly. I put her on my back and ran for the town. Suddenly, a werewolf appeared out of nowhere and snarled at me. I unsheathed my sword and shouted, "Power Strike!". I cleaved the beast in half with my sword and continued running. When I reached El Nath, the town was in complete chaos. Lycanthropes, Werewolves, Yetis and other assorted monsters were terrorizing the town! Villagers were running around screaming as monsters chased them around and their residences in pieces. I quickly ran for a place to put the girl and thought of the elder's house. When I got there, they were holding off the monsters as best as they could. Tylus saw us and cleaved a path through the monsters with his sword. I ran into the house, put down the girl and went out to help Tylus, Rene, Robeira and Arec.

    Alexis......
    I woke up in a warm bed in a house. Looking around, I could see a snowstorm outside the window along with...... monsters!? I looked at myself and I was still in Siren form, completely naked. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the wall and a Werewolf stepped in, the snowstorm blowing into the house and putting out the fire in the fireplace. It growled and charged at me. I could only scream out of terror as the beast approached rapidly. Suddenly, an arrow burst through its chest and I saw a cloaked woman with a bow in her hand, glaring at its carcass. She turned around and started unloading arrow after arrow into the horde of monsters as I watched, amazed. I quickly went to help her only to slither back into the house, shivering from the cold. I transformed back to normal and reached to my back for my sword. It was missing. I found it near the fireplace after looking around for a while and unsheathed it.

    Suddenly, a man wearing a cloak burst in the door and shouted, "Alexis! Don't fight! The monsters are too powerful for you!". I froze at the sound of my name and looked at him curiously, sheathing my sword. How did he know my name!? He appeared to have read my mind as he said, "This is your grandfather, Tylus.". A bolt of electricity seemed to run through my body as he spoke those words. My jaw dropped and I looked around more closely. I was in El Nath, in my grandfather's house! I sat on the bed, scared for an hour until the fight was over. Grandfather walked to me and sat beside me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "What brings you here, granddaughter?" he asked me calmly. I hugged him and replied, "I need to beat Zakum and save my husband." His face suddenly became grave as he stared into my eyes. "Zakum is too powerful for you. And you got married? You never told me!" he said, tilting his head slightly. "Sorry, I kept wanting to write to you but lots of things happened while I was with him." I replied. The rest of the evening was spent telling him about what had happened. I heard the cloaked woman from earlier gasp when I mentioned that Ivan was the Dark Dragon. Tylus looked very serious when I told him about the incidents where something bad happened to me. He looked especially grave when I told him I was maplenapped a few times.

    When I was about to get on the incident on the ship, the Crusader from then stepped into the room and took off his helmet. Long hair unfolded from his head as he smiled at me. He was a female! I looked at her as she went to sit beside me. She continued the rest of the story. When it was finally finished, Tylus put me on his bed while he slept on the floor. The Crusadress went to look for an inn to stay at while the other cloaked people slept on their own beds. I fell asleep wondering how Ivan and Mother were doing.

    Back at Fielda's house......
    "Ahhchooo!" Fielda sneezed while in a duel with Keichii. "Do you have a cold?" he asked. "Nono. I'm fine. Lets get this over with!" she replied, charging at Keichii.

    Author's Note: 4th time.

    Back to Alexis......
    I woke up to find the Crusadress beside me, smiling. She grabbed my hand and took me out for a walk after breakfast. The snowy ground was slippery and I slipped quite a few times. She took me to the shops to buy a pair of snowshoes. "I haven't told you my name yet right? Sorry. I'm Lynx." she said as we walked back to the house. "I'm Alexis. Pleased to meet you." I replied and shook hands with her. The cloaked archer was waiting for us when we got back and she hurriedly asked Lynx to wait in another room while she asked me quite a few questions about Ivan. Surprisingly, she asked me about Ivan's condition. She gasped when I told her he had fainted from trying to control his Exzas Beast and was in critical condition. She gasped yet again when I told her I had to bring Zakum's heart to him to save him. She retrieved a book from a nearby bookshelf and flipped through the pages. She stopped at one and showed it to me. My jaw dropped.
    Chapter 37: Trapped

    I trudged through the snowy mountains of El Nath with Lynx, both of us wearing our snowshoes and winter gear. We eventually came to a cave which we took shelter in overnight. Strangely, there was a hole inside the cave which lead to a hot lake underground. We took the chance to bathe and exchange some stories. I looked at a piece of paper on my backpack and sighed. I wondered how Ivan was doing as I took off my clothes.

    "This is a map of the Zakum Altar and its caves. The cave is practically a labyrinth of monsters and traps. You'll need this to save your husband." Rene told me, copying the map onto a piece of paper quickly and deftly. I looked at the original copy only to find a twisting and turning maze. I needed to go through all of that. "Here." she gave the piece of paper to me and I pocketed it. "It's a maze......" I said as I gazed at the map. She replied, "Just follow my map and you shouldn't go wrong. Don't lose it though, or you'll get lost inside. Many a traveller has been known to disappear in the caves because they never asked me for the map." I nodded and walked out the door to rejoin Lynx.
    I undid my armour and placed it on the ground. Then I jumped into the lake and enjoyed myself. Lynx, on the other hand, was anxiously measuring her chest with a measuring tape taken from her bag. She noticed me looking at her and smiled. "I need to have a big chest to attract men. I want to find a nice husband to settle down with. Right now its only 96 centimetres." she said and glanced at me. She leapt into the water and swam to me. She pulled me out of the water and pulled her measuring tape around my chest. "Whoah! 1.1 metres! How did you get such a big chest? Man, the men are going to swarm to you like a hive of bees on honey." she said, jumping back into the water. Hey wait, the last time I was measured my chest was 1 metre. My body really was growing faster than normal. I dived into the water and pulled Lynx's legs down jokingly. She spluttered and swam back up. "You scared me!" she said and splashed me with water. We continued playing like little children for a while and then went to sleep.

    We woke up to the sound of a blast and got up. The rock over the cave entrance suddenly collapsed, showering us with rubble and dust. We immediatly took our swords and tried to break out, but the more we tried to dig, the worse the block became. Lynx sank to the ground and started to cry. I sat down beside her and put my hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, I heard the sound of water gushing. I went to look into the hole and saw that the level of water in the lake was rising! I quickly told Lynx and she cried even harder. We waited for half an hour, hoping someone would come and save us. Trickles of water was starting to run on the ground and I knew I had to do this. "Siren, embodiment of water and ice, awaken!" I shouted. My armour disappeared to let my legs meld together to form a long green scaly tail. My brown hair grew longer and changed colour to silver. My hands became green and scaly as I sheathed my sword on my back and chanted, "Water, power of the oceans, heed my call and become my weapon! Aqua Spear!". The water on the ground flew into my hands and became a watery spear. Lynx looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. I nodded and shouted, "Tsunami Strike!". Water from the underground lake gathered into my spear as I swung it in an arc. The water flowed out of my spear in the form of a giant wave and washed back part of the rocky walls. We had more room, but my summoning the giant wave was a big mistake. Water now flooded the cave up to waist level and Lynx waded to me and said, "Don't do that! We'll drown if you keep that up!". I had to stop and think for a second as the water continued to rise. "Alexis can breathe underwater in Siren form but she can't stay in it for too long." the Siren explained to Lynx. She jumped and looked around wildly. I laughed and pointed at myself. She seemed to understand.

    "Alexis can temporarily transfer her Siren powers to anyone without an Inner Beast. In that way, both of you can become Sirens and breathe underwater. However, this will cut the time Alexis can stay underwater before her body is unable to change back in half. Also, you will be unable to transform back if you dont get out of the water in the time limit, which in this case is 50 minutes for both of you." the Siren explained further. Lynx looked at me fearfully and nodded. I put my scaly hands on her back and the Siren muttered an incantation. Lynx's armour disappeared and her legs melded together to become a long green scaly tail. Her blonde hair grew longer and changed colour to black. Her hands became green and scaly. Now we were almost a mirror image of each other and we laughed. "I'd prefer blue hair though." she muttered, fingering her hair. We turned our attention to the task at hand, breaking out of the cave. The water had now submerged the entire cave as we dug out the rubble. I summoned an icy spear and gave it to Lynx. I then summoned another one and started stabbing at the rocks. 30 minutes had now passed since we transformed and we were beginning to tire. Suddenly, I heard a strange sound and I saw water flowing out of a small hole in the rubble. Lynx immediatly started poking her spear at the hole and even spin it around a little. It became larger and more water flowed out of it. But could we make it in time? The water was draining off at a slow rate and time was running out. It was now the 45th minute after our transformation and the water was still higher than our heads. I cursed and began charging up a hailstorm skill, only to have the ice particles dissolve in the water. An idea struck me and I smiled. "Tsunami Strike! Drill Form!" I shouted and pointed my spear at the hole while focusing my energy into it. It would be risky, but it was the only way. A drill made out of water started to drill its way through the rock. The force generated by it was keeping the water in though. I eventually broke through and cancelled the skill, allowing water to burst through the hole.

    A few minutes later, the water had completely drained and we transformed back to normal and hugged each other. Suddenly, pain shot through my leg and I took off my leg armour. My legs were still green and scaly. Lynx, on the other hand, was staring at her arms, which were completely green and scaly too. I wondered who had tried to trap us in here as we packed our items and continued through the freezing, snowy white mountains. Lynx would slash the occasional wolf or Yeti in half as we advanced so I had nothing to worry about, or so I thought. A werewolf tried to sneak up on me and was just about to sink its teeth into my shoulder when Lynx caught it in the act and threw her sword at its head. The sword landed smack in its brain and it died on the spot, teeth away from my shoulder by a hair's width. It's teeth sliced my armour's shoulder strap in half and my armour fell off, exposing my bare skin. We ran for shelter, my teeth chattering and my body shivering in the cold and eventually found another cave. A Yeti and a few wolves had taken up residence it it already, but Lynx easily dispatched them and I got to work mending my shoulder strap. We set out again an hour later, with a few holes in my index finger, having poked myself with the needle quite a few times.

    Chapter 38: The Dead Mine

    "Ahhchooo!" I sneezed as we trudged through the snow. Lynx threw something at me and I caught it and drank it. "Red bean soup. It'll keep you warm for a while." she explained, drinking one herself. It was so cold I could see our breath. Sure enough, I felt my body heat increase and we continued. As night fell, we looked for a place to stay for the night. The area was dotted with ominous-looking trees. Lynx quickly found a cave and pulled me in, only to run into some bats. "Ahhhh!!! Get away from me!" I yelled and shooed the bats away. "Don't do that! You'll...... Don't look back." she hissed at me and I heard her unsheathing her sword. A minute later, I turned around and found 6 dead zombies on the cave floor. Lynx calmly sheathed her sword and turned to me. "If you make any loud noises, the zombies will come and attack us." she whispered in my ear. We quickly laid our sleeping bags on the floor and went to sleep uneasily.

    "Wake up." I heard Lynx whisper in my ear and I sat up. I looked outside and gasped. She quickly put her hand over my mouth and blocked the gasp. A lot of zombies were walking around outside, arms outstretched. We were horrified. I looked at Lynx to find her forming letters with her hands. "S-n-e-a-k-p-a-s-t-t-h-e-m" she formed these letters in rapid succession. I nodded and prepared to sneak outside. Suddenly, I stepped on a twig. The zombies suddenly turned around and started walking towards me. I froze as a zombie walked nearer to me. It waved its arms around, barely missing my arm and walked off. I heaved a sigh of relief and the zombie suddenly turned around again and spit something at me. It landed on my chest plate and melted it, exposing part of my chest. It started spitting more acid at me as I ran away. Lynx followed me, acid landing on the snow behind us. We ran away as fast as we could towards a separate cave. Suddenly, zombies appeared in front of the entrance, blocking it. Lynx and I unsheathed our swords and started hacking and slashing. However, the zombies simply came back to life when we killed them and continued attacking us. Lynx hacked her way through the zombies towards the cave entrance while I followed closely behind her. The zombies turned away when we entered and continued their wandering.

    We continued through the cave, slashing any stray zombies that got in our way until we reached a cave full of lava. "It's scorching hot here!" I yelled as a small blob of lava landed on my foot. "Yeah, no kidding." Lynx replied as a fireball flew past her head. A group of huge bulldogs with spiked collars stood glaring at us on a nearby platform. They started shooting out fireballs at us as we ran for it. "Youch!" I yelled as a fireball hit my back armour plate. It instantly melted and exposed my bare back. Another fireball whizzed past Lynx's leg. "These guys have a serious case of dehydration." she said jokingly. "This is no time for...... OUCH!" I screamed as a fireball hit my leg. Fortunately, my armour took the brunt of the attack and melted, leaving my leg intact. I wouldn't be able to survive two hits on the same spot. We ran for our lives past hundreds more bulldogs, getting most of our armour burnt off and we eventually reached a cavern.

    "I paid a lot for this suit of armour!" I complained as I looked at what was left of my armour. There was only an arm plate left. Lynx was lucky, her armour was only missing her arm and leg plates. I looked around for my backpack and cursed, it was gone. Most probably it had been hit by a fireball and melted. Lynx's backpack was still fine though. She gave me a new set of armour and I put them on. She replaced her own arm and leg plates as we continued into the tunnel. We were now in the maze of tunnels Rene had mentioned and I retrieved the map, which I had hidden in between my breasts. "What would the men say if they saw where you put that?" Lynx remarked, smiling. I ignored her and continued on with the aid of Rene's map. More than often, Lynx had to stand on my shoulder and climb onto a ledge and then hoist me up. We traveled for an hour through the caves until we reached a humongous cavern.

    "Are these supposed to be here?" I asked, staring into the face of a bulldog. "Nope." Lynx replied and stabbed her sword into the bulldog's head. She pulled it out and glanced at the crowd of monsters in the cavern, which had turned their attention to us and were now snarling and growling at us. "Siren, embodiment of ice and water, awaken!" I shouted. My armour disappeared as my legs melded together, forming a long green scaly tail. My hands grew green and scaly and my brown hair changed colour into silver. I sheathed my sword and said, "Water, power of the oceans, become my weapon! Aqua Blade!". Flecks of water in the air started to gather in my hand, only to disappear. I tried again, with the same result. "It's too hot in here!" Lynx shouted to me, whacking a bulldog on the head with her shield and stabbing it through its heart. The Siren explained, "Only the Exzas Beast is powerful enough to create water out of nothing. However, you may only execute Exzas Mode once a day. There is an alternative, you may use water from your own body to create the sword. This will dehydrate you and weaken your powers temporarily though." I shouted, "Water, power of the oceans, gather from my body into my hand and become my weapon! Aqua Blade!". I felt myself growing weaker as water was siphoned out of my body into my hands to form a sword.

    I decided to try something new and I cut my wrist with the sword. Blood dripped out of it and into the water of the sword, turning it red. I quickly dripped orange liquid from a bottle onto it and healed the wound. "Blood Tsunami Strike!" I shouted and swung my blood-red sword in an arc. Red-coloured water appeared and rolled out in the form of a huge wave. All the monsters were either swept off their feet or forced to drink the water. Those who did so collapsed to the ground immediatly and died. Suddenly, pain shot through my body and I fell to the ground, writhing in pain. There were cuts all over my body and I was bleeding severely. Lynx quickly ran to me while severing the head of a nearby bulldog who tried to sink its teeth into me. I got up painfully and shouted, "Blood Tsunami Strike! Slash Mode!". My sword extended by several metres and I swung it. Lynx ducked the slash as it walloped off the head of several bulldogs and cut some in half. After that, pain shot through my body yet again and the cuts opened up wider. I screamed and fell to the ground again. A pool of blood was slowly forming around me as I tried to get up. I struggled to keep my sword steady and got ready to perform another Blood Tsunami Strike. However, when I tried to swing it, my hands stopped and fell to my sides limply. The sword fell to the ground and disintegrated back into water and blood. I fell to the ground limply as Lynx fought for our lives, slashing left, right and center. The image of Ivan in my mind started to disappear as I grew faint from too much blood loss. "Sorry...... Iva.....Ivan...... I.. fa....failed...y..yo....you......" I muttered weakly as my life force started to slip away. Suddenly, my cuts began to mend themselves and my blood retreated back into my body. "You're just going to give up and die!? Is that it!?" the Leviathan shouted. "Get *slap* a *slap* hold *slap* of *slap* yourself!!! *slap slap slap*" it yelled and I felt my cheeks being slapped roughly.

    I got up, my eyes becoming completely green. My arms became completely green and scaly as my hair changed colour into green and grew even longer. Lynx glanced at me and gasped as I formed a sword out of air and grasped it tightly. A second later, the sword had become water. "This is for Ivan! Elemental Modification!" I shouted and traced multiple arcane symbols in the air. The air suddenly turned into water and Lynx tried to hold her breath only to find that she could breathe. Some of the monsters however, were drowning and a bulldog that had opened its mouth to shoot a fireball at us hurriedly closed its mouth and swam towards me. The others quickly caught on and started to swim towards me, preparing to go in close. "Time Rift!" I shouted and my sword started to glow white. I slashed a rip in the water and opened up a black hole. All the bulldogs started swimming away in shock as the black hole started to suck them in. The water wasn't disturbed by the hole. A few minutes later, the bulldogs were gone and the water became air again. I reverted back to normal and fell to the ground, coughing out blood. "That was amazing! How did you do that!?" a wet Lynx asked me, shaking the water out of her blond hair. I replied weakly, "I don't know.....*cough*" and fainted.

    Chapter 39: Intermission

    Note: Intermission = Cutscene...... >.<

    Alexis woke up and looked at herself anxiously. Her body had reverted back to normal and Lynx was standing beside her. "I won't ask you questions for now since you're tired." she said, smiling. The Siren said, "You'll have to skip the fight for today and rest up here. You've already used up today's Exzas transformation.". Alexis sighed and laid down to rest for a bit. She thought of Ivan back at home. "How's he doing?" she thought. The entrance to the Zakum Altar lay before them, looking very ominous. A roar could be heard from deep inside as the two girls sat down for a little chat.

    Zephyr and Lorelei stood at the entrance to the caves surrounding the Zakum Altar. "Are you sure we should go fight that monster now?" Zephyr asked anxiously. Lorelei replied, "You wanna test your strength, don't you? Anyway, Zakum is rumoured to hold a lot of treasures, and you sure as hell want a bite at it.". He sighed and walked into the caves after shooting a zombie through the head. He expected to see zombies all over the place, but the Dead Mine was completely empty. "Strange......" Lorelei muttered and continued on. They eventually reached the deeper parts of the mine where lava pooled. "I hate these guys." Zephyr mumbled as a fireball from a nearby bulldog singed his hair. He put the small fire out with a wave from his hand and deflected a fireball with a swing of his bow. "No kidding." Lorelei said as she ran for her life through the mob. Zephyr followed her, deflecting the fireball that came after them.

    Chapter 40: Zakum

    "That, is one heck of a humongous monster." I gasped, looking up at the massive eight-armed monster known as Zakum. It roared and hit me into a wall with one of its arms, creating a small crater. I felt something crack and I hurriedly swallowed an Elixir. "Watch...... Arrgh!" Lynx was pushed back by an arm. "I'm going Siren form! Siren, embodiment of ice and water, awaken!" I chanted. My armour disappeared, leaving my legs room to melf together to become a long green scaly tail. My brown hair grew longer and changed colour into silver while my hands became green and scaly. "Ice, power of the North Pole, become my weapon! Ice Sword!" I shouted as Lynx threw a few water bottles into the air. The water from the bottles flew out and froze in my hand, forming an icy sword. I started hacking at an arm only to get hit into the wall again. I placed my palm on the blade of the sword and shouted, "Icepaler!". A long shard of ice flew out of my sword and towards Zakum's head. It blocked it with an arm and fired a lightning bolt at me. It missed my tail by an inch. Lynx was landing combos on the arms as I fought and she wasn't doing very well. I needed to save Leviathan for the time when I really needed it.

    Suddenly, an arm grabbed my body and lifted me up into the air. "Crap!" I screamed as the arm started to squish my body slowly. An arrow suddenly flew in from the exit and exploded on the hand. It let go and I fell to the ground. A pair of hands broke my fall. I looked up at my rescuers to find a Hunter with blue hair equipped with an Olympus and a red-haired Witch (Female wizards are witches, right?) with a Mystic Cane. "Let's go! Fire Arrow!" the witch said and formed a fiery bow along with a fiery arrow in her hands. The flaming projectile hit an arm and dissipated. "Nice going, Lorelei. Arrow Bomb." the Hunter said and jumped into the air, releasing an arrow mid-jump. The arrow hit the palm of an arm and exploded, not really doing much. "Geez...... Are you okay?" Lorelei said, running her hand over my body, stopping on my tail. "Siren huh?" she asked, smiling. "What the...... How'd you know?" I gaped. She replied, "I have an Inner Beast too, and its almost similar to yours. Meet the Aegis." A rough voice suddenly rang out of nothing, "Hello. Pleased to meet you, Siren." The Siren replied, "Same to you, Aegis. Watch out!" I ducked under an arm swipe. "Might as well...... Aegis, embodiment of light and water, awaken!" Lorelei sighed. Her robe disappeared as her legs melded together to form a tailfin. A fin sprouted out of her back while her body elongated and became grayish. Her head became that of a shark's and she swam into the air. "I can swim in the air!" she said proudly. "Light, power of the heavens, lend me your power! Holy Staff!" she shouted. Light gathered in her hand and solidified, becoming a staff. "Shotgun Mode!" she added. The rod of her staff changed shape and melded into her arm. She pointed what had just been her arm at Zakum and muttered something. A projectile suddenly launched itself out of her arm and burst into flames. It slammed into Zakum's head so fast it didn't have time to block. A crack appeared in its rocky head only to disappear as one of its hands waved over it. "Shyt." she cursed and swam out of the way of a burst of flame from another arm.

    Zakum was beating the four of us back effortlessly as we fought for our lives. "Dar...... Ouch." Lorelei said as an arm slammed me into a wall, creating yet another small crater. I got up painfully as Lorelei swam up beside me and healed my wounds with a swish of her staff. I no longer had any other options other than go into Exzas Form. "Get outta the way!" I yelled at the others and they stepped back. "Exzas Power Seal, heed my command and break! Exzas Form!" I commanded. My eyes became completely green as magical symbols formed in mid-air and I felt something break inside me. My tail grew longer as spikes grew all the way down my back to my tail-end. My hair grew longer and changed colour into green while my arms and torso became completely green and scaly. Six more arms grew out of my body too. I breathed deeply. "Time to kick some Zakum butt." I said calmly and stabbed my icy sword into the ground. "Avalanche!" I commanded and hit the blade of the sword with the palm of my hand. A snowy wave suddenly flew out of the sword and rushed towards Zakum. It blocked it with all of its hands only to get an arm knocked off. It roared and unleashed a burst of fire at me. I pulled my sword out of the ground and rushed towards the fireball, sword pointed straight at the center. The fireball broke apart as I rushed through, showering the area with firey rocks. I continued on and jumped up, straight in front of Zakum's head.

    A moment later, there was a crack on Zakum's head with my sword in it. When Zakum tried to heal itself, the sword stuck inside and kept the crack open. I formed eight icy swords, holding one in each hand and poised to strike. "Bladestorm!" I shouted and twirled my swords around. Rushing towards Zakum, I stabbed swords into the roots of its remaining arms and left more cuts in its body. "Lorelei! Now!" I shouted as she swam into the air, unleashing bursts of fire at the swords I had embedded in its body. They exploded and broke the arms off, also leaving a big crack in Zakum's head. It let out a deafening roar.

    "Nice one!" Lorelei gave me a thumbs up and went to heal the Hunter that accompanied her. "You okay, Zephyr?" I heard her say. He replied, "Yep. I don't know how you managed to convince me to fight Zakum...... Watch out!" He dodged a fireball and shot another one off course with an arrow. I palmed my sword again and released a big icicle for Zakum's head. With it no longer being able to block without arms, the icicle flew into its mouth and stuck itself there. It let out a muffled roar and flung the icicle out with some kind of magic. The icicle richocheted off some walls before coming to a stop in front of me. I pointed my sword at it and muttered, "Extend." My sword sucked the icicle in and extended itself. I had to hold it with three hands now. I palmed my sword again while forming symbols in the air. "Elemental Modification! Water!" I shouted. The air around us turned into water and Lorelei found herself able to move easier. Lynx looked at me and smiled before throwing a dagger at Zakum's main body. Zephyr was making good use of the water to avoid more fireballs, which were actually nothing more than flying pieces of rock now. "Good call. Aqua Rake!" Lorelei called over and swished her staff. She altered the flow of water towards Zakum and started to erode its body. However, a rock hit her in the stomach and she flew back, coughing out blood. Zakum let out another roar.

    My movements were more agile in the water due to my tail and I easily dodged all of Zakum's attacks. "Tsunami Strike! Impaler Mode!" I shouted and palmed my sword towards Zakum. A sudden rush of water became pointed and flew towards Zakum. The bolt of water impaled a hole through Zakum's main body, narrowly missing its heart before I caught myself. I needed its heart to save Ivan! I quickly swam towards the hole and reached in. I felt something squishy and I grasped it, pulling it out. A small pulsating object sat in my fist. Zakum let out a tremendous roar and imploded. Mesos and items rained down from the sky and we quickly picked up what we could. I picked up a red-coloured bow along with a red and gold coloured sword and a gold and black coloured claw. Reverting back to normal, I handed scrolls around and we teleported back to El Nath with them. I fainted afterwards.

    Chapter 41: Besieged

    "Let her sleep. She's too tired." I heard someone say as I opened my eyes slowly. Lynx was sitting beside me and she smiled as I got up groggily, rubbing my eyes. "Thank goodness you're okay." Lorelei said, walking into the room with Zephyr. The blue-haired hunter closed the door behind him and put a box on my bed. "Here's Zakum's heart. You need it right?" he said and opened it. A pulsing heart-shaped object sat in the box. "I'll help her keep that." Lynx said, closing the box and tying a rope around it. She put it in my backpack and went out the door. "You're amazing." Lorelei added, gesturing towards the box. I sighed and laid down on the bed. "You need some rest. That transformation took a lot outta you." Zephyr said. I stole a glance at my chest to find the Exzas Mark coloured red. "A red coloured Exzas Mark means your body is still charging for the next transformation." Lorelei said, having noticed my eyes moving. "Has your......" I asked. "Nope, it hasn't. My Exzas Beast hasn't awakened yet." she replied. I fell asleep after an hour of chatting.

    "Get the injured outta here! Hey you, watch your back!" Shouts rang out from the street as I got up and looked out the window. Suddenly, a head of white fur looked in the window and I gasped. A small yeti was in the window. It squeaked and jumped into my arms. It didn't seem to be hostile and I petted it on the back. Suddenly, Lynx burst into the room, her sword unsheathed and she looked at the yeti in my arms. "You know, that's supposed to be dangerous." she remarked and strode over to me. I cuddled it and it gave out a playful squeak. "But it's so cute......" I replied. "Get dressed, the town is being attacked." she said, opening a closet to reveal my armour and my sword. A sudden explosion came from outside and I glanced out. A snow-coloured drake was smashing a stove into pieces. "That Ice Drake isn't supposed to be here!" someone yelled and an arrow pierced through its head. It fell to the ground and Zephyr ran out from a nearby building. He saw me looking out the window and waved at me before jumping into the air and smashing his bow down on a large yeti's head. I quickly got dressed and gave the small yeti a hug. I then ran out the door only to bump into something brown and furry. Saliva dripped down onto my shoulder plate and I looked up. A werewolf towered above me, fangs bared and poised to strike. Suddenly there was a cry of "Get out of the way!" and the fiery tip of an arrow burst through the werewolf's chest. It keeled over and fell. Lorelei was standing behind the corpse, looking grim. I hurriedly unsheathed my sword only to get knocked down by a sudden shockwave. My sword flew out of my hands and stuck itself firmly in the ground. The culprit, a huge yeti, was preparing to slam its hands into the ground when a sword suddenly burst out of its chest. It fell to the ground in a pool of its own blood as Lynx charged towards another huge yeti that was punching a house into pieces. I retrieved my sword, hit the blade with my palm and shouted, "Hailstorm!". Shards of ice flew out of my sword and pierced through some nearby monsters.

    Suddenly, a bolt of black lightning hit me on my back and I fell to the ground. I turned around to see a Crimson Balrog baring its teeth at me. "That's not supposed...... Holy shyt!!!" Zephyr cried out as another Crimson Balrog appeared out of nowhere and sent a black lightning bolt at him. He rolled out of the way just in time and fired an arrow at it. It easily blocked the arrow with a wing and roared. "What the hell is...... AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!" a nearby magician screamed as a lightning bolt hit him squarely in the chest. A second later, he was a rock statue. "What the...... Guys! Don't get hit by the lightning bolts! They'll turn you into stone!" Lorelei shouted, conjuring a shield out of thin air to block a lightning bolt. "These aren't normal Crimsons!" Zephyr yelled as he deflected a lightning bolt with an arrow bomb. "Let's get the hell outta here!" Lynx shouted, hiding behind a stone tree as a Balrog shot lightning bolts at her. I put my hand to my back and felt nothing but my bare skin. The lightning bolt must have destroyed my back armour plate. But how was I not turned into stone? The Siren answered, "It's because of your blood."

    Yet another Crimson Balrog flew out of the sky and aimed a lightning bolt at me. I looked behind me to see a few children crying and shaking a stone statue of a Ranger. I needed to keep these children safe! Looking around for something to use as a shield, I quickly held my sword tightly as the lightning bolt flew towards me. I braced myself for impact. However, I felt nothing and the Balrog suddenly toppled out of the sky and broke into a million pieces in front of me. It had turned into stone! I looked at my sword to find a black-coloured blade. It turned back to normal after a while and the stone statue of the Ranger got its colour back. The children stopped crying and hugged him. The Ranger hurriedly got up and carried the children away. SO that was how to bring them back to normal...... I quickly ran through the town, raising my sword to deflect the lightning bolts back at the Crimson Balrogs. A few hours later, I sank to the ground panting. My sword suddenly broke into pieces and another Crimson Balrog appeared in front of me. Those guys were endless! I ran towards it and started punching it, only to be dangled in the air by one of the Balrogs claws. It began to charge up a lightning bolt in its free hand only to get conked on the head by the flat edge of a sword. The lightning bolt self-destructed and turned the Balrog into stone. "They're easy to kill once you figure out when to hit them." Lynx stepped over the stone statue and tripped. "Whoops." she said calmly as her sword stuck itself in the chest of the petrified Balrog. Part of my armour had turned into stone when the lightning bolt self-destructed so I took those parts off and gladly accepted a new suit of armour from Lynx. "How many times must I buy new armour for you?" she remarked crossly and punched an incoming werewolf in the face. Its teeth shattered and it ran away, howling in pain.

    By the end of the day, most of the monsters had been slain and some had run away. I went back into my room to find the small yeti peeking in my closet with something in its mouth. "Hey...... thats...!" I quickly pulled the object out of its mouth. It was me and Ivan's wedding photo. I kept it in my backpack all the time. The photo was covered in saliva now though, so I put it in front of a fireplace. The yeti squeaked and jumped into my arms again. "Now, now, don't eat my stuff. Okay?" I petted it and it purred softly. I guess I had found myself a new pet. Lorelei walked into the room and remarked, "I think it's getting attached to you...... How sweet...". She petted the yeti only to get bitten. "You need to teach it some manners!" she said crossly, wringing her fingers. "Sorry." I apologized. Lorelei, Lynx, Zephyr and me had a good night's sleep and the next day, I decided to go back home. Wait, how was I supposed to get back home? I asked Lynx and she replied, "Go to the twentieth floor of Orbis Tower to reach Orbis. There, you can catch a ship back to Victoria." I thanked her and ran to the tower. "Is this supposed to be here?" my jaw dropped as I opened my backpack and a furry object leapt into my arms. It squeaked.

    Chapter 42: The Journey Home

    "Stay in my backpack! We wouldn't want people freaking out when they see you!" I hissed at the small yeti in my backpack. It squeaked and settled down nicely on one of my clothes. The climb up Orbis Tower was exhausting, as there were twenty floors and the yeti in my backpack was slightly heavy. I've heard people say that the Eos Tower in Ludibrium was a hundred floors tall. Now I was at the Orbis docks, preparing to leave for Victoria. A toy ship arrived at a nearby dock and a group of people got off, chatting up a storm. It left after a while, most probably back to Ludibrium. I suddenly noticed I forgot to buy a ticket and I rushed to the ticketing counter to buy one hurriedly. At 2000 mesos each, they were relatively cheaper than the ticket to Orbis from Victoria, which was priced at 8000 mesos. A horn sounded and I quickly picked up my backpack and ran for the ship. I ran aboard just as the take-off horn sounded and the boarding plank was pulled back and locked shut. As usual, there were a lot of people onboard, minding their own buisness. I could spot some people dueling each other as I walked towards the cabin. There were even some people playing cards, omok, chess and the occasional checkers. I opened the cabin door, walked in and looked for my room. I found it after a while and went in. The room was clean and tidy and I put down my backpack and sat on the bed. The view of the blue skies from the porthole was beautiful. The yeti jumped out of my backpack and into my arms and I rubbed it's head gently. It purred softly and went onto the bed. It fell asleep instantly and I could hear soft snoring. Poor little guy, must have been tired from the long climb up. I decided to go have a look around the deck.

    An archer was firing arrows at the sky and shouting, "Goodbye, Orbis!". A few passer bys looked at him and smirked. I heard one person say, "What a waste of arrows." I rounded a corner and gasped. I walked past, trying to look innocent and hid in a corner. It was the Crusader that assaulted Ivan and me at Fielda's house was on the ship! He looked around and seemed to spot me, but he turned away and continued minding his own buisness. I heaved a sigh of relief and got up. I ran for my room in the cabin and locked the door tight. My yeti was still snoring away like it didn't have a care in the world. I stroked its fur and brought out my cellphone to call home.

    Fielda's house......
    *Ring ring* Fielda ran for the phone as fast as she could.

    "Mother? It's me, Alexis." I said into the phone. Fielda replied, "Is that you? Gosh, you've been away for quite a while! The others all miss you! By the way, did you find that thingamajiggy that'll fix Ivan up?" I laughed and said, "Zakum's heart. Oh yeah, remember that guy that attacked us that day? He's on the ship!" Fielda's voice became grim, "Crap. Lay low for a while and keep Gakum's heart or whatever its called safe." I replied, "Okay. I will. Bye now.". I turned off the cellphone and laid down on the bed. Hopefully I got back in time to help Ivan. My eyes closed and I fell asleep.

    *Squeak! Squeak!* A squeaking noise came from the door and I got up, rubbing my eyes. My jaw dropped when I saw what was happening. The Crusader was trying to fend off my yeti! He noticed me awake and charged at me. I quickly jumped off my bed and grabbed my backpack. I dodged the first slash and parried the second with my sword. Unexpectedly, the Crusader gave his sword a little twist and mine flew out of my hand, sticking itself on the wall. I quickly grabbed my sword and the yeti and ran for my life. It was early morning outside and not many people were outside, making it hard for me to hide. I spotted a few barrels lying around on the deck and I jumped into one, closing the lid behind me. Something inside the barrel was making a really sick smell. I looked around and found a lot of fish. Ewww...... I heard footsteps approaching and I pinched my nose shut. Stupid stinky fish...... Eventually I heard footsteps growing fainter and fainter and I ran for my room again. I jumped into the shower for a quick bath and checked myself. I still reeked of fish, even though it was quite faint. My backpack was still okay while my yeti was squeaking away in a corner. I pulled it out and hugged it. A few hours later, a horn sounded and I left the ship. I didn't see the Crusader among the crowd so I assumed it was safe. Once off the ship, I quickly hailed a taxi and drove off to Perion. The driver was cool about the yeti, he even gave it a fish to eat! I laughed as the yeti chomped the fish down and choked. I petted it on the back quickly.

    An hour later, I arrived at Fielda's house. She, Roy and Keichii greeted us warmly and gasped at the yeti. I quickly hurried upstairs and brought out Zakum's heart. "How do I use it?" I asked the Siren. She replied, "Put it on his heart." I did so and the heart glowed black. It shattered into pieces after a while and Ivan's eyes came back to normal. He blinked and looked at me. Tears flowed out of my eyes and I hugged him. However, he asked blankly, "Who are you?". I felt like a stone had dropped inside my stomach. He looked around and asked, "Where am I?...... Who am I?". Fielda, who was watching from the next room, gasped. He had lost his memory......

    Chapter 43: Fragments

    I blinked and sat up. A strange brown-haired girl suddenly hugged me and I felt tears running down her cheeks. "Who are you?" I asked blankly. She broke away from me suddenly. Then again, who am I? I looked around my surroundings to find myself in a house. The girl held my hand and said, "My name is Alexis. Your's is Ivan." Suddenly, I felt like a bolt of lightning had flashed through my head and I clutched my head in pain. Strange flashbacks were happening in my mind, one of them being sucked into a strange device. Alexis quickly laid me down on the bed and she left the room. A while later, she returned with something in her hand. There was a photo of her and me standing together smiling, and we were in wedding clothes! More scenes flashed through my mind and I shrieked in pain, clutching my head. She hugged me tightly and I felt the pain decrease slightly. I sank into the pillow, panting. Alexis started to cry and she left the room. I looked at her and wondered who she actually was. The photo suggested that we were husband and wife. Suddenly, a wet handkerchief closed around my mouth and I felt myself losing consiousness. What the hell was going on!?

    Alexis......
    "Ivan......" I cried silently in Fielda's room. She put her hand on my shoulder and reassured me, "Ivan will get his memory back sooner or later, it's just a matter of time.". She pulled me to my feet and went to do some ironing. I went into Ivan's room and...... he was gone! I searched the whole room for any trace of him but there were none, excepting our wedding photo on the bed. I called the others and they ran up. They all gasped when they saw the empty room. "Where the heck did he go!?" Roy asked, frantically opening drawers. "I don't know! I just walked into the room and he was gone!" I answered, closing my eyes and preparing to do a search for other strange energies. "Mind's Eye!" I muttered and closed my eyes. Strange, I could sense something faint just above the bed. A return scroll had been used here recently. An abnormal return scroll, to be exact. Other return scrolls did not leave energy like that around. "Ivan's been maplenapped." I announced and Fielda froze. "A return scroll was just used here. There's a bit of its energy still around." I added, pointing at the ceiling. Fielda closed her eyes and muttered, "Mind's Eye." She opened her eyes again with a gasp. 'No...... Ivan!!!" I cried out loud.

    A few days later, I was still crying over Ivan's loss. The house lost its usual air of cheeriness and became grim and tense. Even Keichii didn't feel like dueling Fielda and opted to kick dirt away in the backyard. The archery range fell into disrepair without Ivan to take care of it, while the dojo and library were barely used. Roy was juggling his stars around but more than half the time, he dropped them on his feet and howled in pain. The mood shifted one day though, while I was doing the laundry. A figure stepped out from a nearby rock and looked at me. A second later, an arrow went whizzing past my ear. "What the...... Who's there!? Show yourself!" I shouted, unsheathing my sword. The figure stepped out of the shadow of the rock and I gasped. Ivan stood there, nocking another arrow to his bowstring. The arrow's tip grazed my arm and left a small bleeding cut. "Ivan!" I shouted and blocked another arrow. "I won't let you take over the world!" he replied and launched another arrow at me. "What the heck are you talking about!?" I said, easily blocking the arrow. He was pretty easy to beat without his powers. Then again, why wasn't he using them? He fired a volley of arrows at me, which I easily blocked. I jumped to his back and held his arms tightly. He struggled to get free, but he was quite weak. I easily slammed him onto the floor and pinned his arms to the ground. "Oh yeah?" he remarked and punched me in the stomach. I keeled over and Ivan got free. He immediatly loaded another arrow and fired it at me. The arrow stuck itself in my left arm and I gritted my teeth. I didn't usually bring my potions out while at home, so I was forced to take the pain head-on. He fired more arrows, which hit my legs and right arm. I fell to the ground, immobilized. He aimed another arrow at my heart and prepared to let go. "Ivan!!!!!!" I shouted at the tip of my voice. His bow and arrow suddenly dropped to the ground and he clutched his head in pain. "What's..... this......" he said weakly before collapsing to the ground.

    A door slammed back at the house and Keichii and Roy ran out. They quickly pulled out the arrows stuck in my arms and legs and pulled Ivan in, firmly strapping him to a bed. Fielda dripped white potions on my wounds and I went to sit at Ivan's side. I buried my head in his chest and cried softly. Suddenly, one of his hands lifted up limply and put itself on my back. I stopped crying and looked at Ivan. The Dark Dragon said, "Ivan is slowly regaining his memories, so stay calm. Saevio ordered him maplenapped earlier and extended his hand to him to join the Dark Ten, telling him that we were trying to take over the world and that the Dark Ten would stop us. I could only lay dormant as Ivan accepted the offer and left to defeat you. The memory seal blocked me from talking to him. I am only able to talk when he's sleeping." I looked at Ivan's eyes. Indeed, they were completely black, like the Dark Dragon's. "I must go now. He's waking up. Keep him restrained until he completely regains his memory. You may speed up the process by showing him things familiar to him." the Dark Dragon added and Ivan's eyes closed. When they opened again, his eyes were back to normal and he began to struggle. "Let me outta here, you bastards!" he shouted. I said, "Shut up! Siren, are you ready?" The Siren replied, "I'm ready when you are."

    I muttered, "Siren, embodiment of ice and water, awaken!". My armour disappeared into thin air, allowing my legs to meld together to form a long green scaly tail. My brown hair grew longer and changed colour into silver. My hands became green and scaly too. Ivan's jaw dropped as he gazed at me. Suddenly, he had another one of those spasms and he yelled in pain. I quickly put my hands around his head. His pain seemed to cease and he panted slightly. I then planted a kiss on his lips. His face grew red and he passed out. Hopefully he would regain his memory completely when he woke up again. Suddenly, a stupid-looking face looked in the window. When I looked at him, blood sprouted out of his nostrils and he hurriedly wiped the blood off. I snuck my tail out another nearby window and tapped him on his back with my tail. When he looked back, I closed my arms around his neck from inside the house and dragged him in. He was the Assasin that had maplenapped Fielda!

    Chapter 44: The Strange Book

    "Idiot." I muttered as I tied the unconsious Assasin to a chair and locked the door firmly. Ivan was sleeping peacefully on his bed, still tied up as well. Saevio was such a coward, forcing Ivan to attack me like that! I really needed to get him back someday. Fielda was doing the laundry and I waved at her as I walked past. She replied with a cheery wave and accidentally dropped a blanket on herself. Oh well, like mother like daughter I guess. Keichii was playing Blackjack with Roy, who appeared to be cheating again. I pulled a card out from under his shirt. He turned red and hastily turned his clothes inside out. A lot of cards fell out and Keichii glared at Roy. Seriously, Roy would never change...... I headed to the library to read some books and strangely, a thick black coloured book with gold bindings was on the reading table. I dusted it and checked the title. It read, "Inner Beasts" How did this get here? I flipped the cover open and looked at the table of contents:

    Table of contents
    Chapter 1: What an Inner Beast is. - pg 1-2
    Chapter 2: The Families. - pg 3
    Chapter 3: A list of Inner Beasts and their respective histories. - pg 4-50
    Chapter 4: The Inner Beast's powers. - Pg 50-100
    Chapter 5: The symptoms of having an Inner Beast. - pg 101-104
    Chapter 6: What an Exzas Beast is. - pg 105-106
    Chapter 7: A list of Exzas Beasts and their respective histories. - pg 106-140
    Chapter 8: The powers of the Exzas Beasts. - pg 140 - 210
    Chapter 9: Centurion Mode. - pg 211 - 300

    I was intrigued by the Centurion Mode and turned to the back only to find that the book only got to page 210. Must be a pretty powerful mode to occupy 90 pages...... The Siren remarked, "This book looks pretty old. I wonder how it got here?". The only abnormal thing I could spot was a small lump on the floor, which seemed to tremble, as if something was moving around in it. I ignored it and checked Chapter 4 for the Dark Dragon's powers. Strangely, the pages were empty, save for a few arcane runes on the pages. "Hold on, I can read them. Guh nob jak gub nig dup!" the Siren chanted and words appeared on the pages. "Probably to keep unwanted visitors from reading it." the Siren remarked. The page filled up with pictures of special skills and techniques, among them, the Hyperion Blast and the Stellar Combo. The pictures glowed as I moved my finger over them, before finally coming to rest on a picture of a bow being tapped on a person's head, which was labeled, "Memory Wipe". "Juh fu gat peh fut nub!" the Siren chanted as I ran my finger over more arcane runes beside the picture. Suddenly, a hologram appeared, hovering over the book. A person chanted, "Power of the Dark Dragon, clear this person's memory of what happened during the last hour! Memory Wipe!" and tapped another person on the head lightly. The person that was tapped immediatly fell asleep and the hologram disappeared. "Neat." I remarked, flipping over to the Siren's page. "Kuh guk ya tol mun!" the Siren chanted and words and pictures immediatly materialized out of thin air on the pages. One of the skills that intrigued me was Maelstrom. As the Siren chanted more words, another hologram appeared in the air, this time with a person holding a sword to the air and chanting, "Light of the moon and water of the oceans, merge your powers with each other and heed my command! Maelstrom!". Light and water gathered at his sword and he pointed it at a spot in the water, pushing the power out of his sword by channeling mana into it. A huge whirlpool appeared in the water and the hologram turned into that of a quiet sea after a while. "I suppose it wants you to try it out." the Siren remarked as a sword appeared in my hand. "Light of the moon and water of the oceans, merge your powers with each other and heed my command! Maelstrom!" I shouted and pointed my sword at the water in the hologram, focusing my mana into it. Light and water twirled around my sword a few times before launching at the spot in the water I had indicated. A second later, there was a whirlpool there. Words appeared in the middle of the hologram, reading, "This skill may only be used in the proximity of a light source and water." and the hologram faded away into nothingness.

    "What the heck is going on!? Someone untie me, please!" a shout came from upstairs and I closed the book and ran upstairs. Ivan was awake and Fielda was pointing her sword at him. "Mother, point that sword away please, it's me." Ivan said calmly. The voice of the Dark Dragon spoke, "It's him all right, he's got his memory back." I cheered and hugged a crying Fielda. "Now can you untie me? These ropes are kinda tight." Ivan said crossly. I cut his ropes and he sat up and stretched. "Guess I'll need to watch what I do next time." he scratched his forehead. "We caught the Assasin that tried to maplenap mother. Come see!" I said cheerily and grabbed Ivan's head, pulling him down into the store, only to gape at an empty chair and cut ropes on the floor. "What the...... How did he escape?" I searched the storeroom frantically and found him hiding in a carelessly opened box with a dagger in his hand. "That would explain how he escaped." Ivan remarked, striding over to me and knocking the Assasin on the neck with his elbow. He fell to the floor unconscious. He was stupid enough not to escape out of a street-level window locked from the inside, and yet he was smart enough to hide a dagger under his clothes. What an idiot.

    Chapter 45: Revelations

    "Ivan! Come over here!" I ushered Ivan into the library after we finishing tying up the unconscious Assasin, making sure he was completely unarmed and locking him tight inside a room. The "Inner Beasts" book was still where I had left it, on the reading table. Ivan gasped when he saw it. "Where'd you get it?" he asked. I replied, "I found it on the table earlier, I don't know who sent it. Anyway, look at this!" I flipped to the chapter entitled "A list of Inner Beasts and their respective histories" and pointed at a random set of runes, which the Dark Dragon immediatly recited, "Fuh noh mu kah zan!". Words lit up on the page, "The Ancient History of the Inner Beasts". A lot more paragraphs lit up under the title, which were scribed neatly.

    The Ancient History of The Inner Beasts

    In the ancient lands of MapleStory, gods once reigned, their hands quiding the maplers in their everyday tasks. They were worshipped by the maplers and special areas were built for them. Among them, were the goddess Sakreh and the god Ubelius. Those two were the gods of the gods, possessing power to move mountains and empty oceans. The land thrived under their capable hands and grew larger and larger, with the gods making new land as they advanced. This continent was named Furindar. Eventually, the powers of the gods reached their limits and most of them passed away, save for Sakreh and Ubelius. The two of them decided to stop expanding the continent for fear of completely losing their powers and built massive castles on the land. Gujindal was Ubelius's castle while Jungihut was Sakreh's.

    A few years later, while Sakreh and Ubelius were living their lives away peacefully, a hole opened in space itself and demons came into the world. Those demons attacked and slaughtered the population, forcing the two gods to ride out of their castles and fight. The demons were beaten back, but at a high price. Sakreh received a unreparable wound to her chest while Ubelius was rammed through his heart by a spear. However, when the demon leader fell, he swore, "We will come back, and destroy your petty little world! There are more of us than you could ever imagine behind that portal!". Sakreh feared his words and started to have nightmares during her sleep. Ubelius was not bothered and built up an army of capable warriors. Eventually, when the demons did come back, the two factions engaged in battle. Both suffered tremendous losses and the demons managed to set up camp in the epic center of the continent. Sakreh sent help, but her army was weak and ran away as soon as they saw the demons.

    A month later, Ubelius approached Sakreh and said, "We must use the last portions of our powers to banish the demons from this world. However, I am afraid that the demons will keep coming again and again and then, this world will no longer have any defenses." Sakreh agreed, slightly trembling. They decided to create new warriors to help them fight out of the last shreds of their powers. Those warriors were called Inner Beasts. The gods created twelve in total, depleting their power reserves to near empty. They agreed that the Inner Beasts would be able to transcend time itself and remain immortal as long as the bearers gave birth. They then used their last remaining power to create a massive earthquake on Furindar. A lot of people died, but the demons were eradicated from the face of that world. Part of Furindar split off to become the islands which we know today, Ossyria and Ludibrium. The price was great, both the gods died from overexerting their powers, but the Inner Beasts remained to combat the demons. The one remaining large island was named Victoria Island.

    A few years later, the world had settled into peacefulness again, and was ruled by a queen called Torteliangra. She governed the people with her fair hands and created the cities Henesys, Ellinia, Perion, Kerning, Lith Harbour and lastly, Sleepywood. Also, she selected various people to govern these cities. Henesys and Lith Harbour shared the same governor, while the Queen herself resided in Sleepywood. Those people are the descendants of the four job masters which we know today. Under her rule, the cities thrived and expanded their borders. One day, the Queen was approached by a stranger cloaked in black. The stranger requested to have a private talk with her and they went to her bedroom. The stranger uncloaked himself, revealing a demon. The Queen shrieked and cried for help, only to have the demon enter her mind, corrupting her greatly. The whole island fell into chaos as she ordered houses razed and people slaughtered.

    The Inner Beasts awoke from their slumber in the depths of residents and rose up to combat the Queen. They would execute their duties silently and without any deaths, usually putting people to sleep or altering their memories. A resistance was also formed to help aid the Inner Beasts, but most of their high ranking members were assassinated once the Queen found out. The Inner Beasts teleported into the Queen's castle using the Mass Teleport spell of the Aegis, who was able to teleport more than 12 people compared to the Dark Dragon, who was only able to teleport a maximum of 6. They swept through the corridors, putting guards to sleep silently and approached the Queen. The Queen changed form into a hideous winged demon and took to the skies, engaging the Inner Beasts in battle. The Inner Beasts barely managed to defeat her and a few suffered terrible wounds. The Cascada lost a leg and the Minotaur was scarred on its right eye.

    After the defeat of the Queen, Victoria Island became peaceful again, due to the efforts of the governors. They stretched themselves to the limit trying to bring the island back to normal. Demons now rarely appeared, and when one did, an Inner Beast awoke to banish it. New cities were established at the islands that had broken off, Ossyria and Ludibrium, forming the city in the sky known to all as Orbis, the snowy El Nath, toy-like Ludibrium and the technologically advanced Omega Sector. The original governors left for El Nath, leaving their subordinates in charge. The subordinates followed in their master's footsteps, causing the island to blossom with prosperity and peacefulness.
    The words disappeared as soon as we had finished reading and Ivan breathed deeply. "I never knew the Inner Beast's history was like this. Must have been a rough time." he remarked and closed his eyes. The Dark Dragon said, "I never knew that our history ran that deep. I believe the Exzas Beasts will come in on the next sub chapter." I looked at the next page and found another set of runes, which even the Dark Dragon didn't understand. "Probably must be read by an Exzas Beast." the Siren remarked. I ran my hand through my hair and scratched my forehead. "Anyway, it's getting late. Let's go to sleep." Ivan said, looking at a clock on the wall. "Yeah." I replied and we walked up the stairs to our bedroom, falling asleep the moment we landed on the bed.

    Chapter 45: Father

    A nice smell wafting from the kitchen woke me up from my delicious dream in which I was eating a huge cake. Ivan's arm suddenly hit me and I fell off the bed. He was tossing and turning in his sleep. I quickly shook him awake and he sat up, tense. He looked around and grunted, "Morning." I asked him, "What nightmare were you having just now?" He replied bluntly, "Oh, nothing." I looked at him suspiciously and he eventually gave up, "Oh all right, I dreamt someone was raping you." I gasped. "Breakfast is ready!" Fielda's voice rang from downstairs and we hurriedly scrambled to our feet and ran downstairs. "Mind if I join in?" a strange voice called from outside. Ivan went to answer the door while I went to the dining room. Roy was already seated while Fielda and Keichii were nowhere to be seen. "They went to the dojo." Roy said. There was a gasp from the door and I went to see what was happening. A black-haired Ranger stood in the doorway, a beautiful golden-coloured bow in his quiver along with some red coloured arrows. "Hey, Alexis."

    "Who're you?" I asked. The Ranger walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't you recognize your own father?" he asked. A lightning bolt seemed to flash through my mind. Fielda came running out of the dojo to see what was going on and she dropped her sword, jaw wide open. "Hey darling, close that mouth or a mosquito will fly in." the Ranger smirked and hugged Fielda. "It....its you!" she said and slapped him in the face. "Why'd you have to leave so suddenly without telling me!?" she shouted. The Ranger replied, "Not like I had a choice." and sat down on a sofa. He took off his hat and a black ponytail fell out. "Anyway, we're all here in this world, aren't we?" he added. Ivan hurriedly sat behind father and started chatting up a storm with him. I took a seat opposite both of them and sat down politely. "Fill me in, it's been a while since I last checked into the world." he said. "Oh and Dark Dragon, no need to hide. I know where you are." he added, smiling at Ivan. "Same as always, aren't you, Daniel?" the Dark Dragon replied, a tinge of happiness in its voice.

    "Where's our son!?" a woman asked. A man replied hurriedly, "I told you so many times, he was sucked into the computer!" "Like I'd believe that! Give me back my son!" the woman yelled. The man shouted back, "I already told you, I can't bring him back! Also, he's not your real son!". She breathed, "If you dare say that again, our marriage is over!" He sighed and replied, "Looks like I have no choice but to prove to you that he really was sucked into the computer." and sat at the computer chair. He brought up MapleStory and typed in a few words while muttering, "Ancient spirits of the other world, bring me back there!". "What.....what are you doing!? Youre not really going to go back there, are you!?" the woman spluttered and tried to pull the man away from the computer screen. He looked at her fiercely and said, "Bye.". The next second he had vanished and the computer short-circuited.

    "Took me a while to find you too, darling left our Henesys house and came here." Daniel explained, wiping his brow. "I sent that book to you after giving it a once-over. I also planted a tracking device in it so I would know where to find you once the book arrived via mole delivery." he added, smiling. I hugged him tightly. "But I'm already re-married!" Fielda protested and Daniel smirked. "Fake marriage, that was your cousin." Her jaw dropped and she asked bluntly, "How'd you know?" My so-thought stepfather was actually my uncle? He replied, "Remember that crystal ball I always bring around with me?" Fielda gasped. "You still have it?" she asked tentatively. Daniel reached into his quiver and pulled out a small ball the size of his palm. That afternoon, Daniel joined us for lunch. Roy and Keichii were particularly excited and asked him a lot of questions. After lunch I went to the balcony along with Ivan for a little chat.

    Chapter 46: Kotetsu

    "Nonono, hold the bow like this!" Daniel said, rearranging Ivan's fingers around his bow. He nodded and pulled back the string only to have Daniel fussing over the way he pulled it. Ivan sighed and complied. Fielda was sitting on a nearby chair watching the two of them while I read the book about Inner Beasts. Suddenly, I came across a picture of a strange sword. There were numerous holes in the blade and it had a winged hilt.

    Kotetsu


    This katana was specially forged for the use of the Inner Beasts. The holes in it are used as a more effective way of channeling mana while the hilt was forged with dragon's blood to help focus mana more easily. Most effective in close-quarters combat.
    "Ahhh...... The Kotetsu. I remember that one." Daniel suddenly appeared behind me and I jumped. "I found it when I mauled a zombie mushmom to death. I mean it practically." he added, smiling. "Then why don't you have it with you?" I asked curiously. He replied, "I lost it after a house-cleaning day. Your mother can't differentiate between trash and treasure." Fielda suddenly appeared behind him and whacked him on the head. "Can't I even make some jokes?" Daniel whined, massaging a bump on his head. "Seriously!" she muttered and stamped off in a temper. "She's quite hot-headed isn't she?" he whispered in my ear and a rock flew out of nowhere and hit him on the head. "I heard that!" Fielda's voice rang out from behind a corner. "Geez......" Daniel muttered and took off after Fielda, yelling, "I was only joking!" Ivan laughed until he got a stitch in his side. I resisted the urge to laugh as Daniel's voice came from the house "Awwww...... Come on!"

    We sat down to dinner along with Fielda, Daniel was nowhere to be seen. "Probably off somewhere crying." she said angrily and burnt her finger on the stove. Like mother like daughter I suppose...... I was just starting to get on my fish when the door suddenly burst open, revealing a tired Daniel. He was grasping something in his fist. He walked over to me and put an object in my hand. A winged hilt. "This is......" I looked at him. "Don't ask." he said and went upstairs. A smell of trash followed him up and Fielda ran for the air freshener. I looked at the hilt in my palm. Where was the blade? Seeming to read my mind, a blade appeared out of nowhere and attached itself to the hilt. It was dotted with holes and reeked of trash. Ewww...... I went to the bathroom to wash the katana clean. I came out with the Kotetsu later. "Nice." Ivan remarked and twirled his hand expertly in the air. "Archaeion." he said clearly and a black and white bow with a red-eyed dragon's head engraved on it appeared in his hand. He glanced at my Kotetsu, then back at his Archaeion. "The Kotetsu is actually as lethal as the Archaeion." Daniel walked down, sniffing himself. "Although, I do think that the Archaeion looks cooler." he remarked, patting me on the back. I went to the dojo to try the Kotetsu out. Daniel conjured a brand new sheath out of nowhere and gave it to me. The Kotetsu slid in smoothly. It seemed to pur softly as it settled into its new home. When I tried to unsheath it, it shook violently and I relinquished it. "Give it some time to settle down, its not used to its new sheath yet." Daniel smiled at me.

    Chapter 47: The Reaper of Light

    "Impact Cannon!" Ivan shouted and jumped into the air, nocking an arrow in mid-air. He let it go towards the ground as black streams of mana spiralled around the arrow. It hit the ground with an explosion and left a small crater. "The Impact Cannon's power depends on the gravitational force of the ground. Jumping into the air and shooting downwards will maximise it's effectiveness while shooting it normally will cause the arrow to drop to the ground upon launching." I read the skill description from the book, which was lying wide open on my lap. Ivan then walked over to me and looked at the book. "Quite handy." he remarked and tried firing an Impact Cannon normally. As expected, it fell to the ground harmlessly with a dull thud. "It's heavy." he added as he tried to put the arrow back in his quiver. The arrow sank through the bottom of the quiver and all of Ivan's arrows fell out. "You need a new quiver." I muttered as he stooped to pick up his arrows. He put them in his shirt temporarily and went inside the house, presumably to look for a new quiver. Ivan had been training hard ever since he regained his memory, although he did lose a tiny chunk of his power over that incident. The Kotetsu hung at my waist in its sheath, humming softly. It sure was alive. I pulled it out to try out a new move I had learnt: Runeblade Storm.

    "Runeblade Storm!" I shouted and traced multiple runes on the Kotetsu. The runes melded into it and I concentrated my mana into the blade. Clouds of blue mana billowed out of the holes in the blade as I felt the force running down my arm. I unleashed the attack towards a target. The Kotetsu seemed to extend its blade using the mana I had channeled and I directed multiple slashes at the target. It broke into a hundred pieces as I utilized the extra mana from the skill to pull off Final Attack. Pure mana shot through my arm and into the katana, causing my arm to tremble. I hit the ground with the attack and caused a bit of an explosion. When the smoke cleared, the target had been completely annihilated. My arm, however, wasn't a pretty sight. The mana running through it had opened a gash in it and blood was flowing out. I gritted my teeth and dripped some white potion on it.

    "Very nice." a voice said from the fence. I turned to look at the newcomer. It was a Wizard that seemed oddly familiar. As he stepped out of the shadow of a tree, the light revealed Marco. "Alexis! Get outta there! Strafe!" Daniel yelled from the balcony as four yelled-coloured arrows flew over my head at Marco. he easily teleported away and attempted to fry me with a lightning bolt. I would've been stunned if the Kotetsu hadn't taken the attack. It buzzed violently and launched the bolt back at Marco. His eyes widened in horror and he ducked the bolt, which singed his hair. He stood up angrily, muttering, "No one messes with my hair! Cold Beam!" A burst of ice emerged from his palm and headed towards me. I screamed and held the Kotetsu in front of me like a shield, closing my eyes. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes to see the icy projectile suspended in mid-air. It then flew back towards Marco, who teleported out of the way only to get blown off his feet. Ivan landed beside me, bow smoking from the Impact Cannon he had just used. He silently nocked another arrow to his string and vanished. Marco's eyes darted around, scanning the surroundings for Ivan.

    Suddenly, an arrow grazed his arm. He turned around to see Ivan vanishing again. 'What the......" he flinched as an arrow whizzed past his ear. Again, he turned around to see Ivan vanishing. "Darn it! Lightning Bolt!" he yelled and fired multiple lightning bolts in a circle around him. He never expected the next attack. An Impact Cannon hit the ground behind him, blowing him off his feet. He got up and hurriedly stuffed an Ice Cream Pop into his mouth. Rejunevated, he looked up to see Ivan's feet in his face. "Bye." Ivan said and slammed Marco into a nearby tree with a spinning kick. I brought my Kotetsu out and yelled, "Mana Blast!" I pointed it at Marco and a ball of mana formed at the tip of the sword, sucking mana through the numerous holes in the katana. "Discharge!" I shouted and the ball flew towards Marco. His eyes widened and he grasped his staff. "Magic Guard!" he commanded, forming a shield in front of him to block the mana blast. He was pushed back a few meters and he sank to the ground, panting. I saw Ivan headed my way and he was making hand signals. I nodded and lowered my hands to the ground. Ivan jumped onto my hands and I gave him a boosted jump into the air. Marco looked up and squeaked, "Eeep." "IMPACT CANNON!!!" Ivan yelled out loud as he launched an arrow at Marco from above. The arrow flew downwards and exploded smack in his face, blowing him a whole 100 meters away. "How'd you disappear like that?" I asked Ivan. He smiled and gestured at the book, which lay open at his skill page. A skill called "Camouflage" caught my eye.

    "Neat." I gave Ivan a thumbs up and went to check on Marco. He was lying on the ground, eyes closed and blood seeping out of wounds on his body. When I put my ear to his chest, I heard a very faint pulse, which stopped after a few seconds. He was dead. "Our first kill......" Ivan muttered, striding over to the dead body. "Stay back. I'll send his soul to the afterlife. May he rest in peace." Daniel suddenly appeared behind us. He nocked an arrow at the body and muttered, "Inferno." We stepped back as a fiery arrow shot out of his bow and incinerated the body. He kneeled down and clasped his hands together, muttering a string of verses. "He may be a bad guy, but he deserves a proper burial as much as all of us do when we die." Daniel said calmly and returned to the house. We looked at each other and nodded. We left the fire burning and returned to the house with Daniel.

    Chapter 48: Captured (I'm running out of chapter names here......)

    WARNING 1: Parental Guidance recommended. For those of you who dont care just read on.
    WARNING 2: Content may have you vomiting on your computer screen.

    Smoke rose up through the air as we looked at the crater in the ground, made by Ivan's Impact Cannon. He was looking at his wrist strangely. "I think I heard something crack when I fired that Impact Cannon......" he muttered and went to our bedroom. I followed him in and went for a bath while he anxiously checked his wrist. The arrow must have been too heavy for his hand. I wondered how it was back at Marco's home. Were they grieving over his death? Or were they plotting another go at me and Ivan? Either way, they would try to avenge him and we had to be ready for it. I ran a finger through my hair and noticed how long it had gotten. It now fell to my waist. I grabbed a towel and wiped myself over. Walking out, I saw Ivan flinch as he tried to pick up an arrow. It fell to the ground. "Darn it!" he cursed and curled his right hand into a fist, slamming it into our bed. A moment later he was clutching his right hand in pain. "I won't be able to shoot for a while......" he gritted his teeth and tried to pick up the arrow again. I ran for the first aid kit.

    Dark Castle......
    "It seems Marco has fallen in battle...... DeathLord, I believe you were supposed to watch over him?" Saevio said, twisting his hair around his finger. DeathLord fell to his knees and cried out, "Forgive me my lord! He sneaked out without me noticing!" "You have one more chance. Redeem yourself or face the consequences." Saevio disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Damn it! Silfa! I need your help!" DeathLord shouted, his voice reverbrating throughout the corridors. Silfa appeared behind him, rubbing something on her chest. "No need to shout. I can hear you." she said crossly. DeathLord jumped and whirled around. "I need you to......" he never finished his sentence. "Maplenap that girl again. Yeah, yeah I know." she muttered and walked off. DeathLord sighed and returned to his room. A new sword stood in a corner, glinting black. The sheath was decorated with golden lines arranged in a skull and was black coloured. "Kidousu." he muttered and the sword flew into his hand. He unsheathed it and slashed it in the air. It was surprisingly light. The blade was clear white and the hilt was blue in colour with leather grips.

    *Ahhhchooo!" I sneezed. Ivan looked at me and asked, "Got a cold?" "Nope, my nose just felt itchy." I replied hurriedly. We were just going into bed. Ivan's right wrist was bandaged and he clutched it every now and then. I had to feed him his dinner because he couldn't hold the spoon. Fielda and Daniel had fussed over his techniques and banned him from using the Impact Cannon for fear of him losing his hand. While Ivan was asleep, I walked to the balcony and gazed at the stars. Stargazing was all I could do at night if I couldn't sleep, and it was quite interesting too. Eventually I felt my eyelids grow heavy and I went to bed.

    Our bodies entwined together like a grape vine around a stick as we hurtled towards the rocky ground. Our wings flapped furiously to keep ourselves stable as I glanced down. The rocky ground was getting closer and closer rapidly. If we didn't break away soon, we would crash into the ground and die. However, we needed to complete the mating procedure. Hence, Ivan and I didn't break off and continued to fall. I felt a sudden burst of energy which signalled that the procedure was over and we broke off, hovering in the air a metre above the ground. (Taken from Dragons, A Fantasy Come True, Discovery Channel)

    I opened my eyes, sweating. Ivan was still dozing away peacefully beside me as I sat up. The first cracks of light were just starting to creep out of the skies. The clock beside our bed read, "6:37 A.M". The Siren had apparently also woken up. It asked, "Did you get a nightmare?" I replied, "Sort of. I thought you could see into my dreams and nightmares?" It shook my head and said, "I can, but I didn't see your previous one." Our conversation was cut short by a shadow on the balcony. "Intruder." the Siren breathed and I felt my back for the Kotetsu's hilt. It wasn't there! Suddenly I remembered that I had left it in my bag and I prepared to go into hand-to-hand combat. The shadow disappeared suddenly and I glanced around anxiously. The next moment, I felt a prick on my chest and my body stiffened. I felt hands close around my waist and heard someone mutter, "Return scroll, take me back to Dark Castle!" A vortex of swirling black and grey opened in the air as Ivan rubbed his eyes and sat up. "What the......" he gasped as the vortex sucked me and the intruder in. I tried to cry for help, but my mouth had stiffened and refused to open. My paralysed body wouldnt move a millimetre!

    I was forced to do nothing as the tunnel of swirling colours opened up and I landed on cold hard stone. A female bandit that I recognized as Silfa landed on the ground on her feet and put me on her back. She carried me into a nearby castle and down some stairs. We arrived in a room with numerous barred doors opening into it, in which Silfa looked over my paralysed body and smiled. She stripped my clothes off, stuffed them into a pocket and threw me through a doorway, locking the door and walking out of the room laughing. My body finally loosened up and I started to bang on the door. Suddenly, the Crusader that had attacked me on the ship walked into the door and looked at me. I hurriedly clutched my bare chest and hoped he hadn't seen me. "Silfa, you didn't have to do that." he called up and sighed. "Here." a voice suddenly said and a hole opened on the ceiling. Some clothes fell out and Silfa's head poked out. "Don't try to escape, only I can open doors like these. You'll need the swimsuits." she smirked, gesturing at the pile of clothes and the hole closed behind her as her head disappeared back into the it. All the clothes that she had dumped in were swimsuits that barely managed to fit me! When I tried to pull one over my chest, a hole burst in it. 4 swimsuits later and I found one that didn't burst a hole in the chest area. It was, however, too tight for me to take off after I put it on. I sighed and sat down on the cold stone chamber. The floor was very cold to the touch, and almost all of my skin was exposed. Pretty soon, my teeth were chattering.

    I woke up with a snake curled around my waist and a spider in my hair. I threw the snake out the bars and shook the spider out of my hair, accidentally sitting on it. A small squishing sound followed and I had to wipe it off my bikini. The snaked hissed at me and slithered away. A moment later, a lizard found its way into my swimsuit. It was so ticklish I wriggled around for a while until it got out. Even then, it left a part of my body feeling particularly slimy. A few minutes later, rats came and started nibbling at my swimsuit. "Shoo!" I said and waved them away. Silfa looked in at me and smiled. "I sprayed the swimsuits with a scent that'll attract creepy-crawlies. Have fun!" she laughed and left the room. I had to shoo away a number of snakes, lizards, rats and even scorpions. Once, I opened my eyes to find a scorpion about to sink its sting into my chest. I shook it off and kicked it into a wall. A whole day later, I was too hungry to shake off most of the critters and my swimsuit had numerous holes in it from all the rats. Luckily, the scent had mostly worn off and only the spiders came. My hair was crowded with spiders and there were spiderwebs everywhere in the room, even one stretching from my forehead to my foot. My stomach growled repeatedly, even scaring off a spider or two. Eventually the door opened and Silfa walked in with a cart. She dragged me onto it as I felt something burst. A second later, my entire back was feeling slimy. Apparently a stray Slime had gotten into it. I started to feel queasy.

    Silfa carted me off to a room with a lot of cages in it. Monsters of all sorts peeked out between the bars as she strapped me to a table, taking care not to touch the slime splattered on my back. She took a syringe from a nearby table and stuck it in my chest. Pain shot through my body as she took it back, this time filled with my blood. Blood seeped out of my wound as she put the sample into a test tube. She then threw me into a cage filled with strange looking slimes with horns poking out of their heads. Those slimes started to prod me with their horns as I tried to get up. Quite painful too, especially when my stomach was almost empty. I punched one weakly and it exploded, showering my entire body with slime and detonating the other slimes. I vomited on the floor.

    Chapter 49: Pure Torture

    WARNINGS: (See previous chapter.)

    I could only watch helplessly as Alexis was abducted yet again. By the time Fielda and Daniel responded to my call for help and ran up, the portal had closed. Daniel closed his eyes and muttered, "Mind's Eye.". He opened them again and announced, "I dont know where she was taken.". He pointed at a piece of cloth on the ground and said, "That cloth has really strong dark energies around it. That means she was taken to somewhere sinister." I sank my head into my pillow and started to cry softly. I was unable to do anything while Alexis was maplenapped! Stupid hand! Fielda ran her hand over the remaining flecks of energy from the portal and muttered, "Contain." A bottle appeared in her hand and the energy flowed into it. She corked the bottle up and gave it to me. "That energy might give us a clue. Try checking the Inner Beasts book." she said. I ran to the library and flipped open the book for some intensive research. I didn't come out for a whole day, and when I did, I collapsed onto the floor from lack of sleep.

    I woke up back in our bedroom, Daniel lying asleep beside me. Now it was midnight and the full moon shone over the house, bathing it in the rays of light. I retrieved the book from the library and flipped back to the page I had left it at. The pictures of "Telepathy" and "Body Switch" looked up at me from the page. Alexis... I'm coming! "Telepathy!" I commanded while closing my eyes. Swirls of mana flowed into my head as I thought about Alexis furiously. A minute later, the fuzzy mist inside my mind cleared up and I was looking out of Alexis's eyes. "Ivan? Is that you?" I heard her think. "Yeah, it's me. I'm going to perform a spell that'll switch our bodies and put me in your place so you can come back. Are you ready?" I thought. Her vision nodded and she thought, "But...... Won't you...AAARRRGH!!!" "Alexis!? ALEXIS!?" I shouted in my mind. She didn't reply. "Darn it!" I slammed my right fist into the floor. My wrist had now recovered and I could use my bow again. I loaded my quiver with arrows and prepared to cast Body Switch. The Dark Dragon's powers flooded into me as I chanted, "Quantum space heed my words, switch the body of Alexis the Siren with me, Ivan the Dark Dragon. Body Switch!" Nothing happened. The Dark Dragon said, "Something's blocking the spell! We won't be able to get her out now!" "Shyt!" I cursed.

    Ivan's voice crackled into nothingness as I sank to the ground. Silfa had activated some sort of force field that was blocking all spells Ivan could cast to get me out. A blue network of blue streams enveloped the cage I was in. Looking at the bits of slime around me, I realized I had no choice. I slowly inched a bit of the slime near my head only to have Silfa notice and cackle, "The slime will become radioactive on contact with saliva, so don't eat it. Hahaha!" I froze. Silfa had thought of everything. I had absolutely no way out! Even the slime was starting to look tasty to me, but I resisted the urge to gulp a bit down. Who knows what might happen to me if I did? Silfa pointed at a cage beside me and I turned. A Drake was fighting one of the horned slimes and it had beaten it. When the Drake gulped down the remains of the slime, it's skin turned green and it......liquidated! "Thats what happens when you eat 'em." she smirked as the remains of the drake, now green slime, flooded into my cage. A dripping green drake skull drifted onto my stomach and I took it up, trying to break the cage bars with it. The skull crumbled into powder on the first hit. Suddenly, the slime around me started to smoke and I looked at myself. The swimsuit I was wearing had dissolved into red powder and I was now left completely naked, yet again. Why did these things always happen to me?

    The slime changed colour to purple as I watched. It seemed a lot more tempting to gulp down. It was now or never. Even if I didn't eat the slime I would die anyway. I crammed a handful of it into my mouth and tried not to feel the pain searing through my body. Suddenly, my skin changed colour to green and I closed my eyes. Pain coursed through my back as I felt something melt. I was finally going to die...... My vision started to blur as I fainted.

    I woke up in the cage. I looked over my body and realized I wasn't dead. Actually it was the complete opposite. My stomach felt full and my wounds were healed. There was something strange though, my back was feeling heavy. When I looked to my back, green wings were behind me. I stumbled and sat down in the slime. Nothing was behind me. Even stranger, my legs had melded and become the Siren's tail. When I put my hand to my back, I felt the root of a wing on my back. There was no blood. I had grown wings! "Now this is strange......" the Siren muttered. My hair was now purple coloured and could have reached my foot if I still had legs. Silfa walked in and gasped at me. "How......how did you..." she stuttered. I still couldn't break through the bars though. Her scared face turned into one of glee as she said, "No matter, the stretching rack should still be able to fit you." She walked over to my cage and pushed a button. My cage started to hover and she pushed me up the stairs and into another room. A blood-splattered table stood in the center of the room with four chains tethered to it. Silfa injected something into my chest and my body froze. She opened the door and carried me out and onto the table. "Ooof. You're heavy." she grunted. A vein twitched on my forehead. She fastened the chains to my hands and my tail. She then pushed a button and the chains started to retract into the walls, stretching my body.

    Chapter 50: Interrogation

    The chains began to retract into the walls slowly as Silfa started asking me questions. "What's the Dark Dragon's weakness?" and "What powers does he have?" were among the questions. I bit my lips and refused to answer, but when I did, Silfa's face cracked into a evil grin and she retracted the chains more. The stretching rack was really painful...... I desperately tried to break free, but the chains were just too strong. She laughed everytime I tried to break free. "I think it's time for a change in weather." she said. "Weather Control!" she shouted out loud. Mana flowed out of her hands and into the air. Suddenly, the air started to get chilly. A snowstorm blew up inside the room!

    My entire body was chilled to the bone. It was so darn cold! The fact that I was naked wasn't helping at all. Silfa didn't seem to be affected and was pressing me on. "Tell me or I'll drop the temperature further!" she said. I refused to tell her and she smiled. Suddenly, the snowstorm turned into a hailstorm! Flecks of ice pelted my body as Silfa continued to interrogate me. "Now, now, we wouldn't want a vampire to bite into your big juicy breasts now would you?" she went on. I froze. VAMPIRE!?!? So William was with them! "If you still keep on like this, I'm gonna bring him here~~~ You have 10 seconds. 10......" she mocked me. "Is dinner ready?" a voice called from outside the room. Silfa replied, "Yeah, come in!" The gruesome face of William poked in the door and he remarked, "Nice breasts, hot chick. Mind if I have a...... bite? Hahahaha!" So...... William was here... This gave me even more of a reason not to die and I began to struggle furiously.

    "I haven't tasted fresh blood in ages!" William yawned, walking towards me slowly. He opened his mouth, revealing several sharp, pointed fangs. I started to get scared. If I didn't break out soon, William would bite me easily and I would become a vampire too! "Her blood will surely be tasty......" I heard him mutter as his fangs got closer to my chest...... I braced myself. Something sank into my chest and I felt blood flow out. Suddenly, I heard someone yell and a crashing sound ensued. Whatever was in my chest flew out and I opened my eyes. Suddenly, pain shot through my body and I fainted.

    "Alexis, Alexis! Wake up!" someone said. I opened my eyes and sat up. I was still naked. Ivan was beside me, looking grimly at my chest. I fingered it gingerly and felt a small hole. William had bitten me...... "Alexis, it's all okay. Ivan kicked William's butt before he could inject his mana into you." Daniel said from the door. I heaved a sigh of relief and rolled on my side. Something cracked. Not the bed. My back suddenly started to hurt and I put my hand to it. "Those wings are going to have to stay there as long as you live. They're already linked to your heart, and if we try to take them off, you'll die." Fielda said grimly. My green wings were still on my back! Daniel added, "Just do everything as normally as you can. If the new maplers see you running around with those wings, they'll probably think its a cash item or something." "How... Ouch... How did Ivan get to me?" I asked, massaging my injured wing.

    "BODY SWITCH!" Ivan yelled at the tip of his voice. "Keep trying!" the Dark Dragon urged him on. He continued to concentrate and he eventually felt something starting to pull him. "It's working!" the Dark Dragon shouted as Ivan's body started to fade away. He suddenly appeared next to Alexis, who was chained to a table and a vampire with his fangs in her chest. "What the...... GET AWAY FROM HER!" Ivan yelled and kicked the vampire's legs out from under it. It collapsed and turned, glaring at him. "Archaeion! Chaos Blast!" Ivan chanted. The black, white and gold coloured bow appeared in his hand and a green coloured arrow appeared in his hand. He launched it at the vampire, who moaned, "I was just about to...... AARRRRGGGHHH!". Ivan's arrow hit it squarely in the chin and it toppled to the ground, a scorch mark on its chin. The nearby Silfa was stunned. She had just pushed a button on a wall and blue streams of energy were just starting to form around the group. Ivan said, "Memory Wipe!" and whacked her on the head. She fell to the ground in a magic-induced slumber. He quickly ran to Alexis and checked her pulse. She was barely breathing, and the bite mark on her chest was bleeding. Strangely, Alexis hadn't disappeared when he got there. Ivan quickly put his hand on her wound. "Mana Clot." he breathed. Her bleeding stopped and Ivan retrieved a scroll from his pocket, punching it. A portal appeared in the air, he broke her chains with some Chaos Blasts and carried her through the portal. Her tail unmelded and became legs again, but her wings stayed. Ivan sighed.

    "Thats how you got back." Ivan explained to me. That was one heck of a close call. I had almost turned into a vampire! "Oh yeah, here's something." Ivan dropped a few objects into my hand. Pointed teeth? "I knocked some of his teeth out when I hit him with the Chaos Blast." he smiled. "They'll come in handy as potion ingredients, or maybe something else......" Daniel muttered, taking a fang. He disappeared out the door. "I had a workshop built while you were gone." Keichii said, walking in the door. The yeti I had picked up a few weeks ago was snoring away peacefully in a corner. I wonder what it had been doing? I fingered my wings and something suddenly hit me. "How am I supposed to put my clothes on?" I asked. Fielda scratched her head. "I don't know." she shrugged. I sighed.

    Chapter 51: Dangerous Mating

    After an hour or two of trying on clothes, Alexis finally found a way to put them on. She was now cutting the back of her armour open with the Kotetsu, which appeared to be humming softly. She then put it on and asked me to strap the back part together. However, her wings kept getting in my way and she hurriedly apologized, "Sorry." I finished strapping her armour at last and she looked in her mirror. "At least it works......" she remarked and get into the rest of her armour. She had gotten new gauntlets and a new pair of boots from Daniel, who had gone out shopping a few days ago. I walked off to the archery range while Alexis went to show Fielda and Daniel her armour. The archery range was littered with arrows and Roy's Ilbi throwing stars.

    "Hellfire!" I shouted, nocking six arrows to the Archaeion's string. The arrows flew out one by one in quick succession, bursting into flames mid-air. I decimated six targets at once with the skill. "Nice skill." Alexis remarked, emerging from the back door. She was holding the "Inner Beasts" book in her hand. She swept back her hair and sat down on a bench to read the book. I made the Archaeion disappear with a swish of my hand and sat down beside Alexis. "Anything interesting I should know about?" I inquired. Suddenly, her jaw dropped and she pointed at a paragraph.

    Mating

    The ancient art of mating between Inner Beasts. Inner Beasts have their own special ways of mating and creating new souls. The human way of sleeping together will not work if both people are hosts of Inner Beasts. Instead, Inner Beasts which live on the ground must bathe together under the light of the full moon. On the other hand, aerial Inner Beasts must journey to the highest peak in the world and plummet towards the ground with the host's bodies entwined together. You must keep your bodies stable and you may only break off when you feel a sudden burst of energy. Land and aerial Inner Beasts may not mate. These methods will produce an egg which you must keep warm and safe. It will hatch when the time comes.


    "When did we get our first baby again?" Ivan asked me. I thought back to that day. Hey...... We had gotten the baby right after Silfa had tried to mutate me! That meant that the baby must have been some form of the green liquid! "I'm guessing our first baby was some form of that weird green liquid." I told him. He looked at me and said, "I'm ready when you are." I stared at him curiously. "Don't you have wings now?" Ivan laughed. "You're not really going to-" I spluttered. "Since you have wings like those, you should be able to fly. And if you can fly, that makes you an aerial Inner Beast, doesn't it?" he smiled. "But...... Where's the highest peak in the world?" I asked. Suddenly, it hit me. "El Nath." I breathed. "So are we going? The choice is up to you." Ivan said. "Let's go." I replied, running into the house. "Oh no, I don't think we need supplies." he called after me. "Why not?" I turned around. "All I need to do is use my Mass Teleport." he said calmly. "Oh, right." I walked back towards Ivan.

    "Dark Dragon, do you want to do this?" Ivan asked. "You bet I do." the Dark Dragon replied. Great black wings and a tail burst out of his back and he chanted, "Dark powers within me, heed your masters awakening call and flood into my body! Level 2 Dark Dragon Form!" His body elongated and became black and scaly while his hands and feet became claws. His head also became that of a dragon's and his tail grew longer. The Siren said, "Might as well get on with it." and my armour disappeared. "Why does this have to happen everytime......" I grumbled as my legs melded together, forming a long green scaly tail. My brown hair grew longer and changed colour to red as my hands became green and scaly. "Let's go." Ivan nodded at me and took off. I flapped my wings as hard as I could and lifted up into the air. The feeling of flight was exhilirating!

    The land below us looked small as we swept through the air, wings trailing air streams. We had just passed the cloudy skies of Orbis. I thought I heard someone yell, "What's that?" from below. I looked down for a second and when I looked back in front, Ivan was gone! "Ivan? Where are you?" I shouted. "Here!" his voice rang out from a nearby cloud. He flew out dripping wet. "Let's pick up the pace." I called over and went into a nosedive. Ivan followed. "Stop the dive! You'll......" he cried out just as I buried my head into the snow. "...... hit the snow..." he mumbled and pulled me out. I shook snow from my hair and started shivering. "Here. Fire Charm!" Ivan said. A necklace with a gem appeared around my neck. A fire appeared to be burning inside it. Instantly, I started to feel warm. "Let's go." Ivan said and lifted off again, much to the surprise of a nearby warrior. I sighed and took off. I accidentally buried the warrior to waist height with some snow that had been blown away when I flapped my wings. "Sorry!" I called back as he shook the snow off and stared at us.

    A few minutes later we reached the Strambourne Peak, one of the highest peaks in the world. "Here we are." Ivan breathed. I could see his breath. "Shall we begin?" I asked timidly. "Yep." he said. We flew up higher and began entwining our bodies around each other while flapping our wings to hover and maintain balance. Ivan locked his claws around me while I put my hands around him as we began to plummet towards the ground......

    I woke up beside Ivan, who was still in Dark Dragon form. His claws were locked around my body and my stomach was throbbing painfully. I clutched my stomach and broke free of his grasp. It felt so painful...... I tried to get up only to drop to the ground, feeling weak. "Alexis! What's going on?" Ivan had woken up. He ran to my side. "Stomach...... hurts..." I uttered as I spasmed. "We need to get you to a doctor!" he said and put me on his back. He grunted, but didnt complain. I felt his wings start to flap and we lifted up into the air. He carried me all the way to El Nath this way, but he never made it past the gate. His wings stopped flapping and we fell to the ground. He appeared to have fainted.

    Chapter 52: The Egg

    "Well, well, look who decided to drop in on us." a voice remarked. I looked up to see Lynx and Lorelei looking at me. Ivan reverted to his original form and started to shiver. "We'd better get you two inside." Lynx said and put Ivan on her back. When Lorelei started to put her hands around me, my stomach started to hurt again. "AAARRRGGGHHH!!!" I screamed in pain and clutched my stomach. "Whats wrong?" she asked. "I guess we'd better get her to the doctor first." Lynx remarked and carried me towards a nearby building. "What do I do with this guy?" Lorelei called after us as Lynx ran in the door. "Nice wings." she commented as the many people inside the building turned to stare at us. Lynx put me on a bench and went to the counter. Eventually, she carried me into a separate room.

    "Oh my." the doctor said as she felt my stomach. "Something hard is inside." she remarked and grabbed a strange device, putting it over my stomach. She waited a few minutes, then turned to look at a screen. I already knew what she was going to say. "No way...... How did an egg get in your stomach?" she asked in surprise. My stomach was hurting too much for me to reply and I screamed again. "No time to waste. Prep the operating room!" the doctor yelled. I was rushed into another room in which the doctor injected something into my arm. I fell asleep.

    "Alexis......" someone muttered. I opened my eyes to find Ivan beside me. A winged egg was resting beside me on a cushion, wings vibrating softly. I hugged it tightly. Ivan mumbled, "Our real baby......" and fell to the floor limply. When I tried to get up, my body wouldn't move. Lynx walked in and put Ivan on a nearby bed. Lorelei then walked in and looked at the egg. "Don't worry about it, this is normal when Inner Beasts mate." she said. "The Inner Beasts that mate will immediatly lose some of their energy temporarily." she added, walking over to the egg. "Happened to me and Zephyr when we mated, but the egg......" she started to cry softly. Lynx patted her on the back and went to sit beside me. "So that's your husband?" she glanced at Ivan, who was sleeping. I nodded weakly. "He's hot!" she declared. I felt my cheeks turn red.

    "Yes, Mother, I'm completely fine. Sorry for running off without telling you." I said into the phone. "At least you're fine. Just don't run off like that ever again!" Fielda replied and hung up. I looked at the egg in my hands. It was vibrating softly. Ivan walked over to me and hugged me tightly.

    Chapter 53: Strange Happenings

    The egg in my arms was starting to get cold as we flew over the ocean, skimming the water. Ivan hurriedly blew a small fireball at it to keep it warm. Lorelei had told me that the egg should be kept warm or else the baby inside would die. "Almost there." Ivan said as we neared the Sixtopia Dock of Ellinia. A ship was just about to leave and we flew upwards to avoid being seen. The ship flew past, sails billowing in the wind and thrusters blazing. We flew over the treetops towards Perion, dispatching the occasional witch with either one of Ivan's fireballs or my icicles. Those witches screeched horribly as they fell to the ground. Eventually, we reached Perion and landed on our house's archery range. We returned to our original forms and Ivan fainted. I carried him into the house and rested him on our bed. However, the egg suddenly started to vibrate, a sign that it was getting cold again. I quickly put it on the stove and turned it on. A moment later, it was out of the critical stage. I heaved a sigh of relief and pulled up a chair, sitting beside the egg. I fell asleep a few minutes later from exhaustion.

    "HELP!!!" my sleep was broken by a scream from outside. I jumped out of my chair and went to the balcony, only to have a black lightning bolt fly past my ear and hitting a plant. It turned into stone. A Balrog was hovering in the air, glaring at me. Not those Balrogs again! I drew my sword and prepared to fight. Suddenly, the Balrog seemed to form a symbol in the air and a big rune appeared in the air. Hey wait...... Balrogs couldn't do that! A red coloured lightning bolt appeared above me and I leapt to the side, only to get blown of the balcony by an explosion created by it. I landed roughly on the ground and my sword landed in front of me with a clatter. I reached for it only to have the Balrog land in front of me. "Crap." I muttered as the Balrog opened its mouth and reached for me. A yell of, "HURRICANE!!!" broke that tense moment as hundreds of arrows flew through the air and embedded themselves in the Balrog's back. It howled in pain and turned around. Ivan was hovering in the air, Archaeion at the ready, wings and tail out and eyes completely black. The Demon Dragon screeched, "How dare you try to kidnap my wife! You will pay!!!" and nocked an arrow to the string. "DRAGON PULSE!" Ivan yelled and launched the arrow. The arrow had mana flowing around it in the shape of a dragon's head as it flew straight towards the Balrog's head. However, it merely laughed and disappeared into thin air. "What in the world? Mind's Eye!" Ivan closed his eyes and muttered, "Shyt." as a bony arm came crashing down on his neck. He fell to the ground, unconsious as the Balrog shimmered into focus behind him, laughing cruelly. I picked up my sword and threw it with all my might at it, only to have it disappear again.

    Suddenly, teeth sank into my back armour plate and I was lifted into the air. I flapped my wings as an attempt to destabilize the Balrog's flight but to no avail, it was simply too strong! A second later, something sticky enveloped my wings and they ceased to move. "Like my Shadow Web?" the Balrog...... spoke? "What the heck is going on!? Let me go!" I struggled. "Yeah, sure, and you'll fall from a few kilometres in the sky. Your remains won't be pretty." the Balrog cackled and I saw it had a point. We were already quite high up in the sky, and if I fell from this height without my wings, I would die. It continued to fly and I soon realized where we were going. The steel and cement buildings of Kerning City appeared in front of us and the Balrog landed on a landing pad. "Nice work, Jake." a woman appeared beside us, clapping her hands. Jake? Now where have I heard that name before...... "My pleasure, Miss Carmen." the Balrog bowed down low. Suddenly, it hit me.

    Suddenly, there was a crashing sound and one of the men fell mid-laugh with an arrow in his chest. Ivan was looking in the window sternly as he loaded another arrow. "Jake! You bastard! I'll kill you!!!" one of the men said, firing his gun at Ivan.

    Jake was one of the members of the Fidelo Gang! But, wasn't he killed by Ivan? And why was he here? "You only managed to do this thanks to my expertise in DNA analysis." Carmen scoffed and pointed at me. "Bring her to the lab." she added and walked into a nearby elevator. The doors closed behind her and a motor whirred. Suddenly, it started to rain. The Balrog threw me into another nearby elevator and pushed a button after tying me up and waiting for a few men wearing black suits stepped in and grinned at me. The doors closed and the elevator started to descend......

    "Let me go!" I kicked and screamed. One of the men rounded on me and punched my cheeks. "Shut up!" he shouted as the door opened. One of the men picked me up and carried me into a large and expansive circular room. Multiple vats stood lined up against the wall, some empty, some containing human bodies, and some containing monsters. Among them were the horned slimes that had been used to torture me back in Dark Castle. "Don't you like 'em? We sent a few to the Dark Ten as a bit of a...... present." Carmen remarked from the middle of the room, standing on top of a elevated section of the floor with computers crammed around it. She walked down and looked over me. One of the men cried out, "I wanna have some fun with her!" Carmen snapped back, "I'll let you have her after I soften up her skin okay? Then I'll avenge my husband's death." The men whooped.

    Carmen threw me into an empty vat and pressed a button. The top closed and grey liquid rose up. My armour dissolved on contact and so did the ropes binding me, revealing my bare skin. Most of the men "wooed" in pleasure and some pressed their faces to the vat's transparent walls to look at me. Carmen merely smiled and pressed another button. The grey liquid turned to maroon and I started to feel strange. "Softening agent. That'll soften up your skin so the boys can...... really have some fun with you." she cackled and walked out of the room. I was left alone in the room, unable to do anything. Even the Siren couldn't respond to my cries for help.

    Chapter 54: Rampage

    WARNING: CHAPTER CONTAINS S3XUAL REFERENCES!

    "Ivan, you can quit smashing that pot with your head now." I called over to Ivan, who was banging his head on a pot. He ignored me and continued doing it until I sighed and pulled him away. "Man...... What's up with your... eyes?" I was looking into his eyes, which were completely black coloured. "It's my fault for letting the Siren get abducted." he cried and began bashing the wall with his head again. He wasn't bleeding! "Stop it before you...... ALEXIS WAS MAPLENAPPED!?!?!?" I gasped. Ivan nodded and summoned the Archaeion, whacking himself with it. Even so, he didnt take any damage at all. I looked at the wall on which Ivan had been trying to commit suicide and my jaw dropped. There was a crater at the exact same spot where he had been bangign his head. "Whoa...... He's in a bit of a...... frenzy right now. I do not suggest you go near him." the Twin Dragon remarked and walked me out of the room, Ivan's screams of "I don't wanna live anymore!" and more banging sounds echoing out of the room behind me. "I suggest we put him to sleep for a while." Daniel looked into the room. "Sleep Enchantment." he muttered, placing his index and middle fingers on an arrow. It glowed white and he fired it at Ivan's head. It hit its mark spot on and Ivan fell to the floor, asleep. "Tie him up before he wakes up, I don't want him smashing his head into anything else." Daniel said, walking away in a whirl of his cloak. Alexis had been maplenapped yet again......

    "Owww......" I clenched my hands into fists and began hammering at the vat walls, but my hands began to hurt immediatly. My body really was getting softer...... I plucked my arm skin. It hurt before I even began pulling. "Tender skin suits women, don't you think?" Carmen was standing in the doorway, smoking. She retrieved some perfume from her handbag and sprayed herself with it. She then walked over to the control center and glanced at a monitor. "Hmm, that should do for now." she muttered and flicked a switch. Suddenly, I started to feel woozy and my vision blurred. "That'll keep you awake to see what the boys are gonna do to you." Carmen smirked as the vat walls retracted and I flopped onto the ground, half-conscious. My body wouldn't respond to my commands and I saw a group of men run into the room. They whooped at the sight of me and gathered around me. I felt my entire body being laid hands on. "She's a real hot chick!" "I wonder what her cup size is!" "Geez, look at her legs!" Shouts rang out throughout the room as I felt myself being violated in every way possible. Soon, I felt something being injected into my chest and something swelled. "What's that stuff, Jontou?" someone asked. "Breast Growth Syrum, specially developed by me! Cool huh?" another guy replied, laughing. "Luke, get the measuring tape!" someone yelled and I heard someone scampering off. A minute later, something was pulled around my chest. "A full 1.4 metres. God, Jontou, gimme some of that!" I began to cry.

    "Cry more! It makes this more interesting and fun! Hahahaha!!!" one guy laughed psychotically. The others joined in before Carmen's voice rang out. "Stop! Jontou, make sure you make me some of that stuff! Furak, get her into the DNA lab." she said, smiling. Jontou ran off into a separate room, laughing maniacally. One other guy picked me up and carried me into a more expansive lab. More human bodies in vats again. Gross. Some of them even had flesh and skin melted off them! I felt like vomiting. "Failed Balrog mutations." Furak gestured at the vats. Wait a second...... BALROG MUTATIONS!? "I think she's gonna turn you into a Balrog, but she says she has different plans for you, so I dunno. Heeheehee!" he whispered in my ear. I was strapped to a table and Carmen appeared in a surgeon's outfit. "You're..... not...... really.... going.... to turn...... me... into a..... Balrog...... Are .....you?" I uttered. "Well, well, normally they only get their voices back after an hour or so. You've broken through in 50 minutes." Carmen commented. "It's not often we get to play with a hot chick like you ya know?" Furak remarked, laughing.

    "Oh god...... NOT THE EGG!!!" I yelled as Ivan picked up the baby egg and tried to smash it on his forehead. Luckily, Daniel put him to sleep again in time. "What a drag!" he sighed.

    "What...... are you going to do to me?" I finally got my voice back. Carmen retrieved multiple syringes from a tray nearby and started injecting the contents into areas around my body. I screamed in pain. When I finally got the strength to look over myself, purple streams of liquid were coursing throughout my body. "A special little concoction I made up. Slowly mutates your body over time, painfully too. It's just a prototype though, so if you dont manage to remove it within two hours of fully mutating, the changes WILL be permanent. Then again, there is absolutely NO way to remove it. Hahahaha! That'll teach you to mess with Carmen Fidelo!" she cackled and pushed a button. Vat walls closed around the table I was strapped to and I was hoisted up. The table retracted into the floor and more of the softening agent rose out of the floor. "That softening agent helps to speed up the mutation process by the way. It also guarantees that whatever you turn into is going to be pretty powerful!" she explained, leaving the room. "Jontou, where's that stuff I asked you to make?" "Here it is, missy. Careful, it might hurt a bit." "Ahhhh...... it feels good. Now where's my wardrobe? I need new clothes."

    To be continued......
    ___________________

    Blooper of the chapter:

    ___________________________
    Comments pl0x!!! :D
    Also, ratings out of 10 please.

    Character Descriptions
    Good
    Ivan (M) - The hero of the story and a pretty easygoing person. Can Awaken should he get into trouble. Alexis's brother. - Lv 49 Hunter
    Roy (M) - Ivan's best friend, talkative and helpful. - Lv 40 Assasin
    Alexis (F) - Ivan's sister. Slightly clumsy and beautiful. - Lv 48 Fighter
    Keichii (M) - Kind and helpful. Will help Ivan should he get into trouble. - Lv 110 White Knight
    SonicBoom49 (M) - A reporter for the Henesys Times. Quiet14's boyfriend - Lv 39 Spearman
    Quiet14 (F) - A reporter for the Henesys Times. SonicBoom49's girlfriend. - Lv 37 Assasin
    Jullian (M) - Alexis's and Ivan's step-brother. Cool and calm. - Lv 165 Dark Bishop
    KHmasta (M) - Easy going and helpful to Ivan and friends, but very competitive. - Lv 50 Fighter
    Edward (M) - Serious and gallant. The leader of the Templars guild. - Lv 100 Ranger
    Alaric (M) - A junior master of the Templars guild. World renowned for his speed. - Lv 88 Chief Bandit
    Zephyr (M) - A deserter from the Dark Ten. Lorelei's girlfriend. - Lv 56 Hunter
    Lorelei (F) - A deserter from the Dark Ten. Zephyr's boyfriend. - Lv 56 F/P Wizard
    *I was originally planned for Zephyr and Lorelei to be the main chars in my other fanfic, but now since I abandoned the idea, I added them into this one.*

    Bad
    Saevio (Mastermind, M) - The leader of the Dark Ten. Wears a mask at all times. - Lv 200 Dark Knight
    William (M) - A cold-hearted assasin who will do anything for money. Can inflict a multitude of curses on his enemies. One of the Dark Ten. - Lv 185 Night Road
    Marco (M) - A very bad person, arrogant and rude. One of the Dark Ten. - Lv 60 I/L Wizard [DEAD]
    Silfa (F) - Likes to wear revealing clothes and has a slim body. One of the Dark Ten. - Lv 60 Bandit
    DeathLord (M) - Keichii's brother. Joined the dark side after a family feud with him. A Junior Master of the Dark Ten. - Level 122 Fallen Crusader
    Josh (M) - A very stupid person who usually daydreams all day. Marco's brother. A member of the Dark Ten. - Lv 32 Assasin.

    Neutral
    Yotam (M) - Hates Ivan, but will readily help him in trouble. - Lv 40 Crossbowman
    AssinxD (M) - Helpful and slightly weird. - Lv 64 Assasin
    Afrodita (F) - Alexis's and Ivan's step-sister. - Lv 50 Bandit

    Demon Weapons
    Archaeion (Bow) - Ivan has this.
    Roguta (Claw) - Roy will get this very late in the story by using his powers on a Dragon Purple Sleve.
    Wargufta (Spear) - Saevio will obtain this after he gets a Dragon Faltizan.
    Magafinta (Staff) - Lorelei will get this after getting a Dragon Staff.
    Kotetsu (Two-Handed Sword) - Alexis has this.
    Kidousu (Two-Handed Sword) - In DeathLord's possession.

    Guilds
    Templars - A newborn guild with a few good members. Leader: Edward
    Dark Ten - The evil guild. The members are very mysterious. Leader: Saevio

    Inner Beasts
    Dark Hadou (Not considered Inner Beast) - Chooses only powerful archers to reside in. Hard to control.
    Known Users: Athena Pierce (Ex), Edward
    Dark Dragon - A cut above the Dark Hadou, more controllable. Only one in a million archers have it. Exzas Form: Demon Dragon
    Known Users: Ivan
    Dark Scorpion - The Dark Dragon's rival. More poweful but less controllable. Awakens only at 4th job. Exzas Form: Ragnarok
    Known Users: Saevio
    Aegis - Magician's equivalent of the Dark Dragon and Dark Scorpion. Holy elemental shark. Exzas Form: Legia
    Known Users: Lorelei
    Cascada - Thief's equivalent of the Dark Dragon and Dark Scorpion. Poison elemental giant spider.
    Known Users: None
    Twin Dragon - A dragon of two elements, Ice and Fire. Exzas Form: Falchion
    Known Users: Roy
    Siren - A very beautiful woman with the tail of a snake. Also has a very sweet voice. Known to have lured many travellers to their doom. Exzas Form: Leviathan
    Known Users: Alexis
    Basilisk - A huge snake with wings. Its fangs are extremely poisonous.
    Known Users: None
    Minotaur - A massive ox with enough strength to move a mountain.
    Known Users: None
    Shiva - A very beautiful woman. Known for freezing people who fall in love with her.
    Known Users: None
    Ramuh - A very wise wizard. Thunder elemental.
    Known Users: None

    These Inner Beasts can only reside in people that have been sucked into the game or were originally in it.
    Monster Hunter Tri Status:
    - Hunter Rank: HR1 (Yay, me noob)
    - Favourite Weapon: Switch Axe
    - Current Most Proficient Weapons: Switch Axe, Hammer
    - Current Armour: Barroth Set + Lagiacrus Set
    - Current Most Hated Monster: Rathalos
    (Stop flying, wings fer' brains!)

  2. #2

    Default

    Cool. but i dont think you could ever get sucked into a computer.. did Roy get sucked in too???
    Don't mess with me or you'll get hit real hard




    Quiet14 - lvl 27 thief, sever Cassopeia
    Sapphira7- lvl 10 warrior, sever Bootes
    Eragon674- Beginner for maple life, sever Aquila
    MinJamin - lvl 9 beginner, will become thief, Sever Cassopeia
    Sapphira 9, beginner till lvl 30, Sever Bootes.

  3. #3
    Mushmom XxKiraYamatoxX's Avatar
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    ......i dont really know how to explain the sucked into a computer thing, and roy didnt get sucked in, he logged in normally

    Edit: think of the sucked into a computer thing as a fantasy element, Ivan will be able to do a Dimension Jump in chapter 1x, and we all know there's no such thing as a Dimension Jump in maple.

    Chapter 2 (Preview)
    Ivan (Lv 18) gets bored of the hunting ground and starts exploring the island while roy is offline. He finds the pig beach by luck and starts training there. However a iron pig suddenly starts chasing him around the map. What will he do?

    Character registration is closed temporarily until the story progresses into a stage where more characters are needed.
    Monster Hunter Tri Status:
    - Hunter Rank: HR1 (Yay, me noob)
    - Favourite Weapon: Switch Axe
    - Current Most Proficient Weapons: Switch Axe, Hammer
    - Current Armour: Barroth Set + Lagiacrus Set
    - Current Most Hated Monster: Rathalos
    (Stop flying, wings fer' brains!)

  4. #4
    Slime
    Join Date
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    behind you....
    Posts
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    Jr. Wraith

    Quote Originally Posted by XxKiraYamatoxX View Post
    ......i dont really know how to explain the sucked into a computer thing, and roy didnt get sucked in, he logged in normally

    Chapter 2 (Preview)
    Ivan (Lv 18) gets bored of the hunting ground and starts exploring the island while roy is offline. He finds the pig beach by luck and starts training there. However a iron pig suddenly starts chasing him around the map. What will he do?

    ok, so whoever wants to be part of the story post your name, level and job here, i'll add you in. make sure that your character is around ivan's level though, i dont want anyone way higher level ksing the crap outta him ;)
    i wanna join, the chars name is yotam, he is a bowman too, but he is a crossbow user and he ,well... hates ivan lol, he is the same lvl as ivan
    (and he is juwish :O)
    My Players:
    (ING-Server-Job-lvl)

    snowcoldbow-Scania-Hunter-4X
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    FaltBlade-Mardia-SwordMan(Page to be)-1X


    Im a proud half otako(otaku=addicted to anime)! lol

  5. #5
    Drake jhtv's Avatar
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    assinxD lvl 59 sin. I think I would have to be introduced a little later in the story though. Good job btw. I just hope you will start to elaborate and make things a little more dramatic.
    I quit MS...


  6. #6
    Slime
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by XxKiraYamatoxX View Post
    ......i dont really know how to explain the sucked into a computer thing, and roy didnt get sucked in, he logged in normally
    It would probably help to explain that a bit better though. Otherwise, it leaves the reader hanging. Could he not know that he was sucked in? Could it be that he can't log out now that he's in? (may be plagiarizing the .Hack story if you do that though)
    Things are kind of moving fast as it is and the story is leaving more of a summary of someone's RPG game than a story with a plot. We haven't really much time to get to know Ivan or to develop any like or dislike of the character. The best stories are character driven and the more you flesh Ivan out, the better empathy the reader can give to the story. Right now, he's made the next job advancement and he met up with his friend. But I didn't find myself caring too much that Ivan did. Was it important that he made advancement? The story doesn't really give us that impression.
    Still, you do have a good start and your sentence structure is at least in more readable format. I'd say just expand your idea and fill it in a bit more so we can get to know your story better.
    I don't want to be a god. I just want to bring fire to the people.
    And I want my cut.

  7. #7
    Mushmom XxKiraYamatoxX's Avatar
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jhtv View Post
    assinxD lvl 59 sin. I think I would have to be introduced a little later in the story though. Good job btw. I just hope you will start to elaborate and make things a little more dramatic.
    thanks, and things will get more dramatic in the later chapters. i got bored of thinking up all the stuff that would happen to him on maple island so i skipped that part. gonna get more interesting now

    Quote Originally Posted by Slerotin View Post
    It would probably help to explain that a bit better though. Otherwise, it leaves the reader hanging. Could he not know that he was sucked in? Could it be that he can't log out now that he's in? (may be plagiarizing the .Hack story if you do that though)
    Things are kind of moving fast as it is and the story is leaving more of a summary of someone's RPG game than a story with a plot. We haven't really much time to get to know Ivan or to develop any like or dislike of the character. The best stories are character driven and the more you flesh Ivan out, the better empathy the reader can give to the story. Right now, he's made the next job advancement and he met up with his friend. But I didn't find myself caring too much that Ivan did. Was it important that he made advancement? The story doesn't really give us that impression.
    Still, you do have a good start and your sentence structure is at least in more readable format. I'd say just expand your idea and fill it in a bit more so we can get to know your story better.
    yep, he knows he got sucked in (i am not plagiarizing .Hack okay? i got the idea myself) he'll realize he cant log out next chapter
    Monster Hunter Tri Status:
    - Hunter Rank: HR1 (Yay, me noob)
    - Favourite Weapon: Switch Axe
    - Current Most Proficient Weapons: Switch Axe, Hammer
    - Current Armour: Barroth Set + Lagiacrus Set
    - Current Most Hated Monster: Rathalos
    (Stop flying, wings fer' brains!)

  8. #8
    Slime
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    Quote Originally Posted by XxKiraYamatoxX View Post
    yep, he knows he got sucked in (i am not plagiarizing .Hack okay? i got the idea myself) he'll realize he cant log out next chapter
    Ah, let me rephrase that then. I meant to say, you might be seen as plagiarizing; even if you aren't. Even if an idea is fresh and original, people will be people and will always compare your work to stuff already out there.
    I don't want to be a god. I just want to bring fire to the people.
    And I want my cut.

  9. #9
    Mushmom XxKiraYamatoxX's Avatar
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    in .Hack, the guy's mind is just trapped inside the game. in this fanfic, the main character is entirely sucked into the game (entire body). anyway, here's chapter 2 (i was about to put the finishing touches on it when my com suddenly reloaded the page, i had to start all over again T_T)

    Chapter 2: Piggy piggy piggy
    Ivan concentrated his energy into his arrow, firing it at a weak spot on the orange mushroom and killing it. Beside him, Roy was throwing 2 subi throwing stars at a time towards an orange mushroom. Ivan suddenly noticed an orange mushroom right behind Roy and fired two arrows at it, killing it with the second arrow. "Nice one." Roy said and threw 2 subi throwing stars at an orange mushroom behind Ivan, killing it. "Same to you." Ivan replied as the 2 continued training. They got tired after a while and went back into Henesys to rest and have a little chat.

    "I'll log off soon, its getting late. Ivan, you should log off too."
    "Log off?"
    "Press the esc button on your keyboard and click quit game."
    "What esc button?"
    "Your keyboard doesnt have an esc button?"
    "What is a keyboard?"
    "Then......How can you even move?"
    "I got sucked into my computer when i first started up the game. Other than that, i dont remember anything else about my past."
    "How is that even possible!?"
    "I dont really know how it happened myself."
    "Hmmmmm......I'll go check up on it in the real world. In the meantime, why dont you explore the island? Make sure you dont go near the dungeon though, there are some pretty powerful monsters there. Normally a player would respawn at the nearest town if he or she were killed. But you're really in the game so i don't know what will happen if you die."
    "Waaaa......"
    "Okay, i guess i'll see you tomorrow."
    "Okay......Bye."
    "Bye, make sure you DON'T die."
    "I will."

    Ivan waved as Roy disappeared. Ivan took a look at his surroundings and decided to explore the western area of Henesys. On the way, he saw new monsters and other high level characters. After walking for a while, he stopped to have a rest. "Man, the island sure is huge." He thought and started to wander around. He was suddenly teleported to the Pig Beach. He gaped at the number of monsters and decided he would train there instead. After training on the pigs for a while, another archer dropped down from above and started killing the pigs that Ivan was about to kill. He was the same level as Ivan but was using a crossbow, hence doing higher damage than Ivan.

    "Get out of the way, noob."
    "What the......Hey! Stop kill-stealing me!"
    "I got here first so the map is mine."
    "Can you please stop kill-stealing me?"
    "For some reason, i just dont like you, noob."
    "Stop calling me that! You're just the same level as me!"
    "But i've been playing this game longer, so that makes you a noob."
    "I told you, stop calling me that!"
    "Or what? You'll kill-steal me? Hahahaha!"
    "Grrrrrrr......"

    The newcomer, who's name was Yotam, was starting to get on Ivan's nerves. Suddenly, an armoured pig appeared out of nowhere and Yotam accidentally shot an arrow at it. The agitated armoured pig started chasing the two of them around the map. Both fired arrows at it, but to no avail. The arrows merely glanced off the armoured pig's iron armour. "Get off me, you stupid pig!" Yotam yelled and climbed up a rope. The pig decided it would rather go after Ivan than the hard-to-reach Yotam on the rope. It started to chase Ivan around the map. He yelled, "Get away from me!" and started running faster. All the time, Yotam was laughing at him from safety on the rope. Suddenly, Ivan tripped over a rock and fell over. The armoured pig loomed over him menancingly and prepared to stomp on him. He yelled, "NOOOOO!!!" and fired an arrow at the armoured pig. Surprisingly, the arrow exploded on the armoured pig, dispelling all its armour and stunning it. Ivan took the chance to kill it with a double shot. Yotam gaped and thought, "But......A normal archer wouldnt have been able to perform that skill......Thats a hunter skill......" He started to edge towards the exit portal and didn't notice a mob of ribbon pigs behind him. He took one look behind him and screamed, running away as fast as he could. Ivan was looking at his bow with a surprised (F6) expression on his face. He returned to Henesys afterwards, deciding he had had enough of pigs for the day. He went back to the training ground to train on orange mushrooms. He didn't notice that a tattoo of a dark dragon had just appeared on his back under his shirt.

    Meanwhile, at Athena Pierce's house......
    Athena suddenly felt something as she was looking over a town map. "What was that?" She thought. "It's been a few years since the Dark Hadou first appeared...... No, its not the Dark Hadou...... Could it be? The legendary Dark Dragon? Hmmm......"

    End of chapter 2
    _______________________________________________
    I know im using Ray.mond's (Pokgai) Dark Hadou, sorry, couldnt think of anything else >.<

    Anyway readers are still free to join the story. just post your char name (doesnt have to be a real char), level, job and gender (looking for a gf for Ivan ;))
    Monster Hunter Tri Status:
    - Hunter Rank: HR1 (Yay, me noob)
    - Favourite Weapon: Switch Axe
    - Current Most Proficient Weapons: Switch Axe, Hammer
    - Current Armour: Barroth Set + Lagiacrus Set
    - Current Most Hated Monster: Rathalos
    (Stop flying, wings fer' brains!)

  10. #10
    Drake K1's Avatar
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    Can u update everything on the first post of this tread? It's easier to read. This reminds of .HACK or sth..

    I also wanan join.. Name: Keichii (M) - 10X White Knight, but call me "Kei" lol.


    Everything I have fought for.. is over.

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