Ryko yelled in a tired voice as she threw the last Assassin over her body with a leg flip and onto the dusty ground far below the Destiny's deck. For a few seconds as she lay there on her back Ryko stared up into the night sky above and sighed. She never felt any closer to knowing what happened to her good friend, regardless of the new experiences and developments she kept running into everyday.
The sound of the Doom Rigger's cannons firing nearby woke her up. She flipped back onto her feet and awaited the next group of 'launched' Ammonia creatures to hit the cold deck that her nearly bare heels were resting on. The young martial artist became a sky-blue blur of strikes and kicks as the worm-like insects landed and started their poison-inducing frenzy upon the defenders of the DragonShip Destiny.
The steamship was far west of the Mystic Ruins at this time, pushed back to a point where Ronfar could finally get the huge vehicle's Dragon Cannon finally facing the decaying craft. The former priest of Althena was just lining up the shot before the last barrage of critters arrived, spurring his companions to defend themselves again wearily.
Her mouth emitting a wide variety of curses at Ronfar's lack of speed, Mistra was the only member of the crew not feeling tired as she darted in and out, stabbing Ammonia and trying to counter-poison them with her own magical 'mists'.
"Okay... that's it... ready... steady... FIRE!" Ronfar yanked the control lever to cause the Destiny's huge cannon to charge with magical energy. Seconds later, the stationary Doom Rigger was essentially vaporized by the might of Althena. Moments later, Shade dispatched the last of the attackers with her sharp darts.
All at once, everyone, including the hovering Ruby and Boomer, collapsed hard to the deck... except the fiery fairy. Mistra slapped her forehead and she flittered about and started yelling again.
"Oh come on!!! Let me guess what this means... oh, I don't know... maybe... EVERYONE'S TOO TIRED TO GO BACK TO THE RUINS NOW?!?!"
It was very late and the addition of enduring small doses of poison from the encounter would've spurred any of them to respond with a yes... Randall was the unfortunate one to open his mouth.
"I have to say that another unexpected battle like this would be too much for tired form-" he started.
In a flash, Mistra was floating in front of him, her blade shining a little in the light from the Blue Star far above. She scowled, anger reddening her cute little face and appeared about to burst... and suddenly sighed and drooped over as she hovered in the air, muttering.
"Calm down, Mistra...I can try to wait...a little..."
Randall's only response to hearing the fairy talk to herself was to raise an eyebrow.
Talm inwardly berated himself as he trained alone under the shadows cast by one of the two ancient spires of Vane.
"Why?! Why could I not see the ruse?! I'm normally so calculating in my views of the world around me... how could I miss such an opportunity to stop these events?!" he yelled inside his own mind, the cool wind ripping through his short brown hair as he meditated without his hood.
At the small stone steps leading to the ninja's current training yard Kara also stood. Silently, she was blaming herself as well for letting the doppelgangers retrieve another crest.
"I have to act less bubble-headed... I don't want to be more hurtful than helpful to my friends," she spoke inwardly. "How could I know though... I never met the real Lord Leo or Jean... I must be more careful from now on..."
The Bunny Karate fighter fiddled with her 'ears' as she watched one of her partners in the near darkness.
A few minutes later, a pleasant voice was heard.
"Talm? Kara?" The speaker was Mauri.
Talm's head snapped in the direction of the beast-woman and merely nodded.
"Over here, Mauri," Kara responded.
Mauri's expression was glum. The latest incident had not helped their position.
Moments later... in the main chamber of the Guild...
"Bwah hah hah hah... excellent idea my little brainiac daughter," Borgan chortled.
Lemina was in no mood to correct the 'man' her mother loved and let the remark pass as she continued speaking.
"We have to get Shade or Ruby back here... there MUST be some reason why they keeping stealing the crests and we have to know why. Mega-sure there's something special about them other than the dragon spells they provide," the blond sorceress spoke.
Thundra sat on a stand in the corner and whistled a note of warning about the unknown.
Borgan replied, "And it looks like they have all the crests already, excepting the blue one."
Lemina nodded and thought, "Yep... the white, red and black dragons' crests... and the Goddess crest... are all missing now. I wonder where Jean put Azuren's symbol," her eyed widened, "and if the Star Dragon has a crest..."
Miria, her face showing some shock, spoke, "Based on the reports we received from Meribia's forces... something awful happened at Takkar yesterday... and Zulan today..."
Kara's visage turned green as she heard the reports of mass slaughter in the two towns... she excused herself from the room for a minute as they others talked and waited down the hall, easing her stomach.
"We're in trouble," she stammered, "if everyday a town is wiped out with such frenzy... whatever is doing this must seek to clean life from the world!"
Of course, the redheaded girl was speaking loud enough that everyone in the main chamber heard it... it was the truth.
"She's right," Talm responded, "We can't wait to see their next move anymore... we have to go out and meet them away from our cities to protect our loved ones... Ryko had the correct idea."
As the others nodded in agreement, Lemina muttered, "They're either attacking towns or doing mega-weird excavations based on what you guys have said... there must be a pattern... a goal... that they are aiming for." She promptly fetched a map and started marking areas that had undertaken some influence by the unknown enemy even as the rest of them tried to catch up on some uneasy sleep.
Ornah appeared at the roof of the Mystic Ruins with the active android. His hench-wizards brought it carefully within as he approached the blood-soaked harpy.
"Excellent discoveries located in the Salyan desert, my mistress... using them we can definitely restore some of our more decrepit forces, including the large one-"
The Dark Scimitar interrupted, speaking through the voice of Haranne.
"Well done... but the current task at hand is testing the Guardian D unit... we shall see how powerful this 'Star Dragon' is..." she said with a cackle.
The grim-faced wizard of Baldour nodded and watched two large shapes moving towards the southeast far in the distance...
The Star Dragon stirred and stretched out his long purple body. He felt a presence approaching fast... an ancient, evil one. He crawled onto its feet and emerged on the roof of his tower.
"What madness is this?!" he exclaimed as a duo of dark shapes soared at the tall spire.
"GET HIM!!!" a tough voice yelled from the smaller of the shapes. The voice belonged to Anti-Leo as he and his doppelganger companions rode a FLYING Doom Rigger towards the Star Tower. However, the huge thing in front of them was a larger concern.
"By the Blue Star!" the drake roared as he leapt into the air after a few odd growls.
The creature was long and shadowy with a strange ring of wings surrounding its body. The 'skin' of this monster was more like armored plates as it used the wings to push itself along similar to the motion of a jellyfish through the water. Its face was a pointed mockery of the head of a dragon... but its eyes were lifeless and dark. A hideous shriek emitted from its form as the wings opened and it surged at the Star Dragon.
The guardian of the gateways to the Blue Star was clipped by the huge wings as he dodged to the left in the dark night sky. He cursed and breathed streams of light energy at the beast which glanced off the tough plates.
With another screech, the shadowy 'dragon' darted around the spire and an odd stream of flying objects emerged from the regions hidden by the folded wings... and began flying around on their own power. Triangular in shape, these little creatures began swarming towards the Star Dragon.
They were met by a multitude of energy beams and huge boulders... the unintelligible growls of the Star Dragon had called out many of the summoned minions of the pinnacle and now a handful of Blood Lords, Cannon Angels, and Hell Raisers were standing atop his tower. The large rocks were thrown by the hefty, barbaric muscles of the latter.
Even with the added interference of his helpers, the being also known as the Star Sentry began being overwhelmed by the huge number of drones this terrible creature had unleashed upon him. He roared in pain as several closed the gap and ripped into his flesh before he smashed them with his powerful claws. Bellowing, he struck and blasted at the monster repeatedly... oblivious of the fact that the Doom Rigger had landed near the top of his spire.
Anti-Hiro struck down another crystalline Blood Lord with his Poe Sword attack as his companions invaded the Star Dragon's chamber.
"This is too easy!" he laughed as his opponent crumpled in front of him.
"QUIET! Find the damn crest you idiots!" Anti-Leo ordered the fake heroes as they busted into the drake's sleeping chamber.
All five doppelgangers still shimmered with their normal blue hues. They heard the sounds of battle augment outside as the Doom Rigger itself joined in with its cannons.
Anti-Jean muttered to herself as she heard the pseudo-Leo yell orders. "I'm so sick of his mouth... I hope DarkStar makes some bigger changes tomorrow other than our glowing problem..."
"GOT IT! NEGA-COOL!" Anti-Lemina beamed as she clambered into the middle of a huge cushion, tripping a few times as she moved, and retrieved the shining purple-colored crest.
Anti-Ronfar and Anti-Hiro dashed back to the tower's opening and called the Rigger back down to them, noting that the Guardian D was living up to its mission's parameters.
"Excellent! The dragon's backup is failing... let's finish the beast off!" the fake Ronfar exclaimed as the five doppelgangers boarded their flying craft.
Regardless of his minions' help, the Star Dragon couldn't contend with both the hovering undead pirate ship and this hideous creature. His speedy dodges and strikes apparently caused little damage except when directed at the Guardian D's pointy head, prompting it to cry out in response. By the time he found that weakness, however, the drones and the wings of the flying thing had already drained the dragon of much of his stamina.
The drones swarmed him mercilessly as the Guardian D oddly began to face away from the Star Dragon. He barely heard the nearby doppelgangers on the Doom Rigger chortle loudly.
"Well done! The Black Dragon's crystals apparently can levitate anything, just like they did successfully in Neo-Vane," Anti-Leo remarked over the sounds of the battle. "We must report this back at the ruins."
Anti-Jean responded, this time with a page out of Anti-Leo's own book...
"QUIET!"
She and Anti-Hiro were busy flinging their fans and boomerangs at the remaining Cannon Angels as their 'leader' had just opened his mouth too loudly that time.
The Star Dragon, racked with much pain, hovered weakly in the air and indeed heard what was spoken... until a stream of glowing white beams began slicing into his form. They were emitted by the sparkling head of the Guardian D as its wings started to open again...
His eyes widened as he caught site of a pale, fleshy body behind the monstrosity's head... another weakness perhaps, normally protected by the massive wings and plates. This region was currently shining with a bizarre light like the twinkling of little stars...
The monster surged forward, away from the Star Dragon. Simultaneously a huge stream of these glowing particles flew out from behind its form and slammed into the purple-toned drake.
His flesh felt like it was burning in the fires of Hades and his wings couldn't hold up to the blast. Wailing in agony, the Star Dragon was thrown away from his tower and plummeted towards the forests north of it.
"Bingo... he's cashed in his chips," Anti-Ronfar said, watching the spire's guard drop into the lush darkness below. "Let's get back."
The Rigger and the Guardian D darted back towards the Mystic Ruins, beyond where the Star Dragon went down.
Critically injured, the drake was still conscious and knew what he was doing. With immense difficulty he glided as he approached the forest tree tops and found what he was looking for... an ancient, lost labyrinth that no one would know of save the other dragons (excepting Ruby). Lunar was still with many secrets...
A huge thump heralded his 'landing' and he crawled inside to try and recover from the near-fatal beating he had undergone.
The Star Dragon's tower became silent again... even as a small handful of Blood Lords flew out of its top to follow their master...
With a sound like a heaving sigh the Destiny stopped its movement to the west and sat still on the plains of the Madoria Plains. It was far from the Mystic Ruins but still blocking the only path to the curious structure.
"Very well... resting here tonight, then we'll take a look at the barrier at the ruins once more," Shade spoke, her black hair blowing in the cold wind.
Ruby chimed in as she flit her little wings, "But we're definitely going to keep a watch out here."
"Of course," Ronfar replied with a yawn, "We're not letting them... whoever these jokers are... to run off with the Destiny again."
As the others went into the crew's quarters to sleep, Mistra and the trio of water serpents remained on guard in the extremely late hours... first the fairy and one of the drakes, then the other two.
Yawning herself, Mistra stretched her light body out atop the steamship's steering mechanisms and kept her eyes darting about... waiting for anything that could approach...