What Happend? (Saga Help Too?)

[kihaku]

"If you wish." With that, the Shadow Forms released the boy, but before triumph could take hold in those maddened eyes, Kihaku appeared before him and delivered a harsh kick to the chest, sending him skidding a few feet on his back once more.

Lowering his foot back to the dusty earth, Kihaku moved swiftly to stand beside the floundering form, the kick had been perfectly aimed to knock the breath from his lungs. "Now, the entity I am addressing is obviously not Chameleon of Elicoori." At the mention of the youth's name, the hand still tenaciously gripping the green hilted blade tightened, and made a feeble attempt to swing for the pair of black boots next to him.

A sudden flash of black, and one end of the unmounted staff slammed into the bottom of the grip, jarring it from Cham's grasp and out of reach. The spinning Oblivion continued to move, the other end delivering a nasty crack to Cham's right jaw. "We'll have none of that now."

Kihaku lowered himself to his haunches, crouching down by the wheezing, battered youth. With one gloved hand he mercilessly grabbed the injured jaw and jerked him to look directly into the burning red eyes. His other hand brought the staff just to the side of his head, the blade slowly emerging from the top right by his ear with a deadly metallic hiss. "Who or what are you, and why have you posessed my friend?"

[chameleon]

Cham hit the floor and skidded a few paces, his body jarring and almost convulsing. Then, it seemed like an intangible body rose from Cham's. The body was like a ghost, transparent and didnt seem tangible. His eyes didnt seem to show, the hair not covering them as much as dark shadows did. It was almost as if he held no eyes.

"He was the outlet, the only means that She made me take in order to get into this realm. He was created as the gateway, She made me do this as a punishment. To leave the other realm for the realm of the living. This boy is my punishment. It's all your fault."

He looked down at the motionless body of Cham and sighed. "She said I needed to kill a Chaos Spirit because the one's of the realm of the living stopped the good Chaos spirit from achieving to create darkness in this realm. You stopped me from going back..." he said looking to Kihaku once again.

"I am linked with this boy. You allowed me to cross the gateway and into him. Now, half of this boy's soul is mine." The was no malice in his voice, more like saddness. "Now if either of us die, then the other will parish with."

He looked at his hands as if expecting something. "I... have a soul now... not mine but... it's a soul... I'll never be able to be back in the other realm with the others again thanks to you!" Anger trembled in his voice as he swung a fisted hand at Kihaku, but before the fist was able to make contact, 1 foot from Kihaku's body, the air seemed to ripple and his hand bounced.

"I... I can't hurt you..." he said looking back at Chameleon. "You... you dare to stop me mortal? You dare to stop a Dream Demon from doing anything he wants? If we ever meet again, mortal, you will suffer!" With that, the dream demon seemed to dissapate into the air, like sand in the wind.

Cham laid motionless on the ground, his breathing slow, he looked very beaten up. His eyes were closed but his hair was still black, which meant it hadn't been a cause of the Dream Demon inside of Cham, but something he did himself.

[kihaku]

Kihaku listened to the tirade of the so-called "demon," but more so in the interests of Cham's safety than anything the entity really had to say. Apparantly, he was a spirit that was being punished by being forced into the realm of the living... hm, sounds about fair. The unfortunate side turned out to be that the only reason that it was Cham and not some other poor sap was because of the Gateway that Kihaku had opened in the boy in the hopes of instilling a bit of Chaos Energy. While that had succeeded, in his amnesiatic state, he didn't realise that he was opening the youth to all the dangers of being linked to the OtherRealm, and thus, the spirit worlds beyond the veil of blackness.

Well, that was a problem to be sure, but the most pressing issues needed to be prioritized, and the first of which was Cham's health and safety. Kihaku looked cooly down into the quickly bruising face and gave the good side of his face a little slap, not enough to hurt, but enough to jar from uncosciousness. "Oi, Cham, look, Elena's here."

[chameleon]

"Elena!?" Cham said, his eyes darting open, the bright green blasted out like a long needed light in a dark hallway. He was about to move when he doubled over for a second. "Ow! Dammit, what the hell!?" he said feeling his face gingerly.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Master?" he said looking up at Kihaku as he sat up very slowly. "Is... that you?"

[kihaku]

"Yes Cham, it's me, but I asked you not to call me master, remember? Or perhaps that whole psychotic episode you just had managed to bar that from your memory." His sarcastic tone was due in no small part to the assault on his person that the young man didn't seem to remember. Then again... he didn't seem to remember that he just had the crap beaten out of him either. Ya win some, ya lose some.

"You attacked me, but since you didn't seem to be yourself I knocked some sense into you. If I knocked too hard, walk it off." He stood and the blade of the Oblivion retracted back into the staff section, the Chaos Spirit deftly flipping it in his fingers, over his shoulder, and into its harness. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his once-apprentice for a moment before turning again to the dead landscape. "Perhaps we should start this conversation over."

[chameleon]

Cham lept from the ground and threw his arms around Kihaku's neck. "Oh thank god your safe!" he said squeezing hard. "I thought you were dead! I couldn't find you or Elena anymore and I thought you were both killed!" he said obviously not remembering anythign that had just happend.

"The whole world has been turned upside down master," he said letting go and dropping the height to the ground. The bright Elicoorian's smile was on his face. Relief mixed with happiness.

[kihaku]

When the boy's arms wrapped around his neck, Kihaku almost wished he was being attacked, at least then he'd have an excuse to wrestle the boy from him and kick his ass one more time. As it stood, the unexpected display of relief and affection was received with a stony look of apathy, with immense confusion and embarassment running just beneath the surface.

"Only one other person has managed to do that boy, and right now she's locked behind a veil of blackness in the OtherRealm, got it?" The Elicoorian apparantly did not, for he just continued on to prattle about how he missed the two Spirits, and how things were-

"Kihaku, dammit! Not master!" For Christ's sake, how hard was it to call someone by their name!? He took a calming breath, the smoldering fire in his blood-red eyes beginning to ebb, and his zen state of mind already returning. "Not upside down, more like inside out. The stale air is filled with dust, there isn't an iota of water for miles, if at all on the surface of the world. Elena and I slipped of to the OtherRealm to check in with Reiaz and make sure everything was prepared once more. It took longer than expected, but we finished. Now, where were you when you fell asleep and woke up?"

[chameleon]

Cham didnt seem to see Kihaku's anger or embarrassment from being hugged, nor would he care entirely, the man was his family for all Cham cared to know. But the other question about his wereabouts when this happened struck Cham oddly. He couldnt remember.

"Um... I'm not sure. When I woke up, I was in a barren land, a lot like here. I flew around for a long time and couldnt find a living thing, no living trees, no water, no nothing. It seemed as though death took over." Cham said looking saddened. "And there's nothing i can do with my Channeled Force, I can heal what's living, but I can't ressurect anything."

"I'm not entirely sure of where we are right now."

[kihaku]

Kihaku listened and mentally nodded in agreeance. It made sense that the Channeled Force couldn't ressurect plant or animal life, but then again... something wasn't quite right with the entire situation.

"Well, I set my destination to Rues, not to where you happened to be. I usually don't center it around a person, since there are usually so many to get in the way, but I guess this time it would have been a moot point..." Kihaku slowed, a sudden thought coming to fruition, "which begs the question: yes, you can't ressurect the dead, but you haven't actually seen any dead, have you?"

[chameleon]

Cham was just about to open his mouth to speak but nothing came out as he re-thought to himself. "Uh... no, I haven't," he said still searching his mind. "I have seen no dead bodies, just vegetation... or... well those are mostly gone too." Cham said looking around. "What do you think could be the cause of this sir?"

[kihaku]

"What do you think could be the cause of this sir?"

"Chameleon, until a few weeks ago, I didn't even know who the hell I was. As to who or what can create the disappearance of the population of an entire planet, sans the most powerful individuals... I have no way of knowing."

Kihaku fell into a brooding silence, the possible reasons for such an increadible change in the world racing through his mind, none of which left a good taste in his mouth.

"There are, however, a great deal of possible reasons why... not a single one a pleasant thought. Still, what we need to worry about right now are the problems we'll have trying to survive the coming days." He began to, for the hundredth time, scan the landscape for signs of relief, finding nothing.

[chameleon]

Chameleon looked around, trying his hardest to scan for power levels but he couldn't. He looked at Kihaku. "I can't sense power levels Kihaku, not even yours. Can you spot any others around? Doesnt make sense that I would live through this and not anyone else. You were in the Other Realm when this happened. But most of the fighters during our fight with Dramanius were stronger than I. Shouldn't they be able to survive?"

Cham lifted himself off the ground to hover because the ground began to tremble again. It seemed to keep doing that, earthquakes seemed a non-stop here on Rues, not like before. A smile came to his face as a lightbulb went off in his head, not literally of course. His green eye did brighten a little though in the excitement.

"Sir, I remember something when I was young. When I took baths, the tank we sat in always had a hole in the bottom that we clogged up to fill with hot water. Well, when we were done, we unclogged the hole and all the water drained into a pipe that led out of the house. Now... all the waters in the oceans are gone, except for puddles here and there, which seems to make it seem like it was drained. Maybe we should start by looking for a large hole somewhere and maybe we can find the route to our problem."

He seemed very proud for a moment before he stopped and sank his head. "Sorry, never mind, that sounds stupid."

[Garoten Reklor]

Garoten began to feel his breath getting short as he and Nishaio pressed on for Rues. All they had discovered on every single continent on Dragonia was death…no, not death. More like, an absence of life. There was no life anywhere, save the one tall stranger from whom Nishaio had found it necessary to run. That was disturbing in itself. For the undefeatable Nishaio Shimata to run away from an opponent didn’t make any sense. Somehow, someway, Nishaio knew more than Garoten, but as usual he wasn’t talking about it…or anything else. The confusion welling up inside of Garoten felt like a thick cloud, with no way of escape. The entire population of a planet was gone, with absolutely no trace of a cause. Somehow, the boy felt that even the signs of a bloody massacre would be easier to deal with…at least then there would be an explanation. The desolate ruins of Esperanza had been the hardest to deal with. Even his own home was gone, but without any sign of an explanation. It just wasn’t there. The same held true for him mother. Vanished along with everyone else. The worst of it was, the heroes that had become the Legends of Dragonia had been unable to prevent this unspeakable calamity. As far as Garoten could tell, they were gone just like everyone else, even the mightiest rendered helpless in the face of..

Of what?

That was the hardest part. All questions, no answers. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet sloped sharply upward, and Garoten knew they were arriving at the Island nation of Rues. As he and Nishaio took a giant leap upward to survey the landscape, he knew what they would find. Only more desolation. As the two soared over the landscape and began to descend, something moved…better yet, two somethings moved! There were two people below, one appeared to be a large man, the other a boy a little younger than himself. Excited for the first time all day, Garoten willed himself and his teacher to descend faster, and something like hope, although faint and unfamiliar, stirred within him. Nishaio seemed to think differently. His swords were out long before the two hit the ground, but fortunately he refrained from attacking the two instantly, allowing Garoten an opportunity to determine whether they were friend or foe. It was interesting to consider how over their time together, Garoten had learned to determine Nishaio’s intent without the element of words. The Tenjou had still never said one thing to his student, and it was now clear that he’d never needed to. Nearly imperceptible signals, expressions, and the occasional gesture proved to be more than enough to get the point across. This time it was just the fact that Nishaio hesitated before destroying the two that tipped the trainee off. Cautiously he stepped forward, aware of the stares that indicated he and his master dropping from the sky had interrupted something, and cleared his throat.

“Afternoon fellas. Mister Shimata wants to know if you two are the ones responsible for this.”

Although his stance was casual and unassuming, months of training now had Garoten ready to defend or attack at the tiniest of signs from either Nishaio or the two strangers.

[kihaku]

Kihaku almost smirked, but still shook his head, giving Cham a light few pats on the shoulder to assure him that it wasn't as stupid as he believed it to be. "No Cham, at this point, there's really no such thing as too outrageous. I doubt anyone would believe it possible for an entire planet's population to simply up and disap-"

Not exactly unpleasant, but entirely unexpected, was the arrival of the two warriors. Kihaku almost recognized one, the silent newcomer ringing a bell somewhere deep within the Spirit's memory. The youth, however, was completely unfamiliar.

Turning to face the pair, Kihaku crossed his arms across his chest, fixing his burning gaze on the older of the two, and spoke to both of them. "Then Mister Shimata can ask us himself. If he's so sure that the only two you've encountered on this island are a threat, then perhaps he's better hiding under a rock than trusting himself to the open air."

[chameleon]

Cham stepped in front of Kihaku, though it was a dumb idea since Kihaku was stronger in battle than Cham. Cham still felt as though Kihaku was his master, so it was only natural that if someone had to fight, it would be Cham first. His hand rested on top of the hilt of his sword.

Cham was a healer, but he was also a force to be reconned with since he was able to harmonize his Channeled and Chaotic energies together. He recognized one of the two from the battle with Dramanius, though it was hard to really know him. Cham didnt exactly have the time to sit and chat with the other fighters, so he couldn't be completely sure. He lifted the sword ever so slightly, to make sure that it was clear from his scabbard, ready to be pulled out at a second's notice.

Cham didnt say a word as his green and puple eyes watched the two newcomers carefully. It could be a ploy to catch the two off guard, or they could be potential allies, though nothing could be certain at this moment.