Thanks to Nall, the city was now a smoldering heap of scrap metal. The only building that remained was the tower itself. It was amazing how Nall could be so precise with such a powerful weapon. But yet, he was. And thank the Goddess for that!
The tower was as menacing as Jessica remembered it. With its metallic spires spiraling upwards toward the sky. The door was open, as if Taben had been expecting them. The thought that Taben was indeed expecting them went through Jessica's mind and it frightened her. For if Taben was in fact expecting them, they didn't have much of a chance.
Inside the tower there were still a few machines that the two had to fight through. However, there weren't enough to be of much trouble. It just seemed too easy. It seemed like a trap. Jessica kept her thoughts to herself though and continued up the tower. Can't stop now.
When they reached the top floor, they saw the figure who they had expected to be there. They saw Xenobia. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! It seems that the kiddies have returned to receive more punishment."
Jessica and Nall went into their fighting stances. "I'm no kid you witch!" Nall yelled.
"Well, well, if it isn't the little flying cat. Seems like you learned a new trick. Nevertheless, you will die." Nall was totally enraged at this insult. Xenobia ignored him though, and faced Jessica. "Why hello little girl. Why don't you go meet your dad; in the after life!"
With that, Xenobia began to cast the same fire spell that she used on them in the boat. Before they had a chance to react, a wave of fire was flying towards them. Jessica and Nall jumped out of the way: Nall rolling to the left, and Jessica to the right.
Unfortunately, when they rolled their separate ways, there was a robot waiting behind them. Before they had a chance to dodge, it struck them in the back of the head and they fell unconscious.
When they awoke, they found themselves chained to the wall. In front of them, was not only Xenobia, but Taben as well. "Greetings," he said, "and welcome to my laboratory." The man walked closer to Jessica and said to her, "Well if it isn't Jessica. It's been awhile ya know. Why didn't you come to visit more often sweetums? We coulda' been friends." After saying this, he gave a fat lip, feigning sadness.
Contrasting his former expression, he began to laugh maniacally. "Anyway, how do you like what I did with the place?"
"I think it looks about as good as it would if you stuck your head in a pile of the stuff that comes from the rears of horses," Nall said expressionless.
"Are you saying that my beautiful laboratory looks like a pile of manure!"
"Mmmm, just about." Nall looked at Taben with a very evil grin. Nall then began to try to transform into his dragon form. To his surprise though, the magic just wasn't flowing through his body. What the heck is going on? Why aren't I changing?!
"Oh, and by the way. Don't try your dragon trick okay. You see, those chains are enchanted with the spell Nullify Magic. It would just be a waste of time."
Damn! Why does he have to be so damn smart! And how the hell did he know that I was dragon? "Go rot in a puddle of your own filth you dirty old man."
"What did you say!"
"What are you deaf too? Stupid old man."
"Enough! I am sick and tired of your insolence! Xenobia, take care of him."
"With pleasure." Xenobia raised her hand and it began to glow a bright orange. Her hand came down and struck Nall on the shoulder. For a moment, Nall felt more pain than he had ever felt in his life. But before he could scream, everything went black.
"What did you do to him?!"
"Oh, I just knocked him unconscious, that's all." Xenobia was grinning malevolently.
"Jessica, sweet Jessica," Taben said. "I want you to meet someone." Taben turned to the side and pointed towards a dark corner. "Jessica, meet your clone."
As he said this, an exact duplicate of Jessica walked out of the shadows. Jessica was flabbergasted. She couldn't believe how much she looked like her. "How'd you..."
"How'd I do it?" Taben asked. "Simple. I have mastered the art of a technique known as cloning. It makes an exact double of the original. Pretty neat huh?"
"But why? Why would you do such a thing? I mean, I know it was you who is bringing about Terranox's revival, but why? And how?"
"Why? I'll tell you why. You see, after you punks defeated Ghaleon, you forgot all about me. Didn't even come back to kill me or anything! You just left me, like a useless piece of garbage! I had to show you! I had to get my revenge for being forgotten and ignored!"
Jessica was starting to get the picture now. He was angry because he was ignored, and left for dead. "I've been plotting my revenge for the past seven years now. I thought that if I made an exact duplicate of each of you, an army of 'heroes', I would be invincible!"
"But then, my plans went in a new direction. I thought that since Althena was the goddess of creation, their had to be a deity somewhere that controlled destruction right? So I developed a machine to find just that being. Instead, I found Terranox.
"Ever since that day, I have been plotting with Terranox on ways to bring upon the revival of the Dark Earth. And so far, everything is going according to plan."
"Not everything," Jessica spat. "We surprised you when we defeated your little necromancer, now didn't we."
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh, oh, now, that's, funny. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. You really are stupid aren't you?"
"What's so funny!?"
"I wanted you to defeat him. It was all a trap to get rid as many of you as possible. And to give Xenobia enough time to torch Meribia."
Jessica didn't know what to say. Had everything that they were doing being dictated by Taben? Were they in reality actually helping him? "But what about Damon?"
"Him? He's dead. We inserted a clone for our convenience. I just knew you guys would go to the keeper of knowledge for help." Taben began to burst into laughter. "Oh, and you know that boy who told you to go to the frontier? He was a clone too. I had my servants waiting at every town, waiting for you guys. You really shouldn't have split up you know. It was pretty dumb."
Jessica looked at the man, then at her clone. She dropped her head in shame knowing that they had been helping the evil man. Now, there was nothing that they could do. Lunar was doomed.
"Now, for the next part of the plan. Nall, dies in the battle with Taben, but Jessica escapes. She runs teary-eyed to her beloved hubby. Then, that night in bed, she slits his throat."
"NOOOOO!" Jessica wailed. "You leave him alone. Keep your filthy hands off him, you, you," if Jessica hadn't started crying, they would have heard the obscenities that she used to describe the clone. However, she just wept, fearing for her beloved's life.
The clone walked up to Jessica and picked up her head. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll make sure he dies happy."
Jessica, knowing exactly what this impostor was talking about, felt an urge to slap her. However, since she was currently chained to the wall, she did the next best thing; spit in her face, and insult her. This time, they fully heard Jessica's obscene language.
The clone, wiping the spit from her cheek, slapped Jessica in the face. "That wasn't a very ladylike thing to do you know!" Jessica said nothing.
"Forget about Jessica," Taben instructed. "C'mon, we gotta get outa' here. Master Terranox, do your stuff!" After saying that, the ground began to shake violently. "Good-bye sweet Jessica!" Taben screamed over the rumbling.
"Don't worry," the clone said, "I'll take good care of Kyle for you." With that, they disappeared.
Jessica felt useless. There was nothing she could do to help Kyle. She just hoped beyond hopes, that he would somehow be able to tell the difference. She knew that her life was coming to an end, but she at least hoped that the others could stop Taben before it was too late. Jessica closed her eyes and accepted her fate, as she was swallowed by the deep abyss.