Did I eve rmention I HATE my printmaking class? -_- It's ruining my semester as an art student. Too much work....
Didn't proofread this one at all XP
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Alone
Chapter 15
"Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh craaaaaaap!!" Dimi screamed as he ran. His blue hair flew behind him and scraps of paper on the ground flew after him as he ran at full speed. "What do I do?! What do I do?! If I go back, I'm dead, but if I keep going I'm alone!"
Lashes of thunder rained around Dimi as he ran, and pure luck helped him dodge each volt. Two Camarian Users still tailed Dimi as he ran aimlessly, trying to escape. One was a Lightning User, the other a Fire User. The Lightning User was summoning clashes of thunder and lighting from the sky, attempting to shock Dimi, but he missed each time. The Fire User summoned flames, trying to catch Dimi in a corner.
Dimi was running too fast for either of the User's strategies to work. The Lightning User flew fast, and landed on the ground in a sudden burst.
"That's enough!" The Lightning User yelled. His body produced electric volts. Dimi studded to a stop, inches away from the Lightning.
"Eek!" Dimi screamed, jumping back. He turned to run back the way he had come, but the Fire User had his exit blocked.
"Just come with us nicely..." Cooed the Lightning User, extending his hand at the frightened Dimi.
"No fair!" Dimi whined, despite his fear. "Two against one isn't right! And I'm a Water User! Water's weak against Lightning!!"
A light clicked for Dimi, and he realized Water was strong against Fire. His confidence returned for a moment, and his trademark smile slapped him in a face.
"I'm so dumb!" Dimi laughed, rubbing his head, eyes closed. "A Fire User, I can take him!"
"What?" The Fire User said in confusion. Dimi opened one eye, still grinning. He summoned a torrent of Water beneath the Fire User. The Fire User was caught in Dimi's Water Prison Sphere, swirling in midair. The Fire User trapped in the sphere attempted to burst into flames and evaporate the Water imprisoning him. But Dimi summoned the Water too fast, and he was stuck. The Camarian Fire User swirled in the sphere, until he became unconscious from air loss.
Dimi released the Water Sphere, and the unconscious Fire User fell to the ground with a thud.
"HAHA!!" Dimi laughed. He put both hands on his hips in what he believed was a sexy pose. "That's Dimi : One! Camarian Fire User : ZERO!!"
The ignored Lightning User stared at Dimi in dumb disbelief. "This idiot's one of the Angels? Impossible..." he said to himself. Dimi stopped laughing and remembered the other User. He ran past the Fire User's body, returning to running and screaming. The Lightning User took one last look at his fallen comrade before pursuing Dimi.
Dimi had no idea which way he was going or where he was. He just knew he had to ditch the Lightning User, then somehow find his way to the Water Gate.
"Shit! What do I do?!" Dimi cried to himself as he ran, still pulling stunt maneuvers to dodge Lighting attacks.
The Lightning User couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Camaria had always put images into the people's minds about the Angels, since the common people never saw them. The Angels were always described as all-powerful being, who all held a sense of pride and nobility. And each of them had unspeakable powers and never faltered in their actions. Yet he was following this seemingly clumsy idiot who managed to time his movements to dodge any attacks, and all the time while screaming and panicking.
"Oh God! Someone help me!" Dimi screamed, barely escaping into a narrow ally to avoid being shocked by raining lightning volts. "Someone! Anyone! Ryo! Leo! Caza! Kalon! Mommy!!"
Dimi saw an exit from the narrow and dangerous ally into a larger street. He took off the fastest he could. Someone stepped out from behind a building into Dimi's path, and before Dimi had time to stop, or even yell a warning, the two collided. Dimi clashed his head against the other mans, and landed in the dirt a few feet away. He quickly sat himself up, and examined his collision partner. He was wearing black with gloves, and he had black hair.
"What the hell?! Watch where you're going dipshit!" Kalon yelled angrily.
"KALON!" Dimi said, his eyes brimming with happiness. He began to talk very fast. "Kalon! I was alone, but I ran, and I kicked a Fire User's ass! I won! One to zero, but there's this Lightning User, and he's trying to kill me! Help me Kalon! I'm too hansom to die! But you're not as hansom, so--"
"Shut up!" Kalon yelled angrily, getting back on his feet. The Lightning User landed gracefully near them. He saw Kalon, and his body tensed up. This didn't look like such an idiot. Kalon looked over the Lightning User in surprise.
"This Lightning loser was giving you trouble?" Kalon asked Dimi. Dimi nodded, and crawled behind Kalon.
"Yeah! Now sick'em Kalon! Kick his ass!" Dimi said, pointing at the Lightning User.
"Shut up!" Kalon yelled. "You don't insult the guy who's gonna save your ass!"
The Lightning User took his stance, and focused on creating a wave of Lightning. He fired a bright light. Kalon scoffed, and created a wall of Earth between him, Dimi, and the Lightning User. The Lightning struck the wall, but did virtually no damage to it. Kalon heard the Lightning User curse to himself.
"You owe me Water Sprite!" Kalon said. He clenched his gloved fists, and ran around the wall toward the Lightning User. He summoned the energy of Earth to his fists, and picked up speed. The Lightning User took a careful step back, and sent Lightning volts to Kalon. Kalon broke the very charges of Lightning with his Earth charged fists. When he was close enough, Kalon slammed one fist into the ground, creating a powerful shockwave. The shockwave hit the Lightning User, and paralyzed him. Kalon stood up slowly and brushed dirt off his gloves.
"I'm saved!" Dimi proclaimed happily, peeking out from behind the wall that had protected him from Kalon's shockwave.
"He's just paralyzed, don't freak out on me," Kalon said bluntly. "Let's get out of here, he'll regain movement in about an hour or so..."
"Do you know where we are?" Dimi asked hopefully.
"Not really..." Kalon admitted. "But I have a general location..."
"You always say that when we're lost..." Dimi whined.
"Oh, like you can do any better!" Kalon yelled, getting out a cigarette. "Let's just find our damn Gates!"
"Great..." Davis muttered to himself. "Now what?"
He had managed to escape the plaza without being followed by anyone, but he found himself alone, wherever he was.
"Kalon? Dad? Jim?" Davis called out in a quiet yell. He concluded he was indeed alone and looked around for somewhere to go. He tried to remember the map Steel had shown them, and where he could be.
"Well, that plaza was directly between the Wind and Ice Gates..." Davis said out loud to himself. "And I think I ran South...so I'm closer to where we started..."
He crossed his arms and looked around him. In the distance he heard random sounds of small battles going on. Lightning with thunder, some small explosions, and occasionally he heard someone scream.
Davis looked up at the windows of his surrounding buildings. It surprised him that none of the Camarian people would come out to help their Users. He never even saw anyone peek out of their window, and they all had curtains.
"Maybe they have some kind of curfew..." Davis said to himself. He shook his dark brown hair, trying to think of somewhere to go.
"I'm not really needed here...maybe I can find my way back, and just hang with Kaira or something..."
Roxanne's black veil shirt flew gracefully behind her as she ran. She held several Lightning Needles between her fingers. She had thrown a few at enemy Users, sticking them all in the spine and shocking their entire bodies. Collecting her needles from their bodies had been a task she didn't enjoy. She had tried to follow Ryo out of the plaza, but after buildings exploded, she lost him, and was now lost herself.
She stopped running for a moment, long enough to catch her breath and look behind her. Only one other Lightning User was after her. Roxanne gripped her needles tighter, and braced herself for whatever attack would be thrown at her.
The Lightning User raised both of his hands, and summoned spheres that crackled with electricity. He smirked at Roxanne. He judged by her outfit that she had never been in serious combat before. But he had to admit, she was holding up her own.
"Angel of Lightning..." The User said calmly to Roxanne, slowly walking towards her, Lightning crackling from his palms. "Why do you betray our country? Has she not treated you fairly? Given you your treasures?"
Roxanne took cautious steps sideways, circling his movements.
"This country has never given me anything!" Roxanne yelled, her words were harsh. "This country only takes what it wants, and only wants everything!"
"You haven't been enlightened then?" her enemy asked. The Electricity crackling in his hands grew, and he held them open to Roxanne. "Please, let me take you to your Cathedral, and make your prayers. Don't turn your powers against your native homeland. You're still young and beautiful..."
Roxanne's eyebrows lowered more, and she still circled him, wishing to only escape and find Ryo. She remembered Nayota when he returned from making his prayers. She had no idea what had happened to him exactly, but his 'enlightenment' had changed him completely, to where he even ignored Ryo. The same fate awaited May. Roxanne could never forgive them for that.
"When I reach my Cathedral, I'll destroy it!" Roxanne yelled. Her out of character anger towards this other Lightning Camarian User surprised her. "I'll close my Gate and turn it to rubble!"
"We don't wish to fight you Angel..." The Lightning User went on. His voice sounded sincere, but Roxanne saw through it. "We want our Angel families revived, we don't wish to fight you...The only family left if the Fire Family...the Razada Family...please, help your home become stronger, Angel of Lightning..."
"I'll never help you!" Roxanne yelled. She flicked her wrist, throwing four of her needles at him. Seeing her wrist flick, the User sent the spheres of electricity flying at her. They lodged her needles in different directions. Roxanne flipped to her left, the spheres of energy barely missing her legs. To her will, her needles returned to her hands, and she held them ready.
"Surrender Angel of Lightning!" The Lightning User said once more, Lightning crackling from his body. Roxanne hoisted her arm back, and threw her needles with more precision and force. The needles flew faster, scarcely missing her enemy. The five needles struck the wall behind him, and instantly exploded. The wall crumbled from the explosion, and fell around the Lightning User. He was half buried in rubble, hidden in a cloud of debris.
Roxanne quickly summoned back the needles she could use again, but left the ruined and destroyed needles. She considered staying and finishing him off, but decided against it. She left down an alleyway quickly, leaving the Lightning User to dig himself out.
"Where should I go?" Roxanne asked herself. She came to a corner. She could either go left, right, or forward. Roxanne brushed a lock of her blonde hair out of her face while trying to think of a way to go.
"Ryo...where did you go?" Roxanne breathed to herself. She suddenly realized how tired she was. She sighed, and slowly fell onto her knees in the middle of the street. She looked up at the buildings around her, trying to think of something to do that would help her predicament.
"Angel..." Roxanne quickly looked behind her, and saw the Lightning User she had left buried. She exhaled deeply, hating herself for not at least getting farther from him before sitting down. She stumbled to her feet and drew her needles again.
"I said I'm not going with you!" Roxanne said, sounding more hopeless than she had earlier.
"You left this..." he held up one of her Lightning Needles with his hand. Roxanne drew more needles with her left hand, ready.
A bright chakram flew from shadows, striking the needle in the Lightning User's hand. The needle fell to the ground out of reach of the User. He ducked to dodge a second chakram that flew at him, and he reached for Roxanne's needle.
Roxanne saw her opening and threw four needles. They all pierced the man's arm up to his elbow. He yelled in pain, and retracted his hand, pulling the deeply-embedded needles from his arm, as they crackled with electricity. The two chakrams curved around to Caza, who emerged from a dark street. He caught each chakram effortlessly in each hand and flicked his hair out of his face. Jim followed behind him.
"Miss Roxanne! Are you all right?" Jim asked in a concerned voice.
"I'm fine now..." Roxanne smiled at Jim. Caza looked down at the Lightning User. His face was serious and dark. The Camarian Lightning User gulped at Caza's size, with two of Roxanne's needles still in his arm.
"A man picking on a single woman. That's not right," Caza said, looking down. He held his two shining chakrams tightly in each hand.
"Angel of Wind..." The man said in a low voice. He clenched his teeth, before making a break away, running away down a small dark street.
Roxanne made a move to go after the two needles still in the man's arm. She only had a limited supply, and she did her best to keep them all, but she decided letting two go wouldn't matter for now.
But Caza had already seen her intention. He slung one chakram at the Lightning User. The chakram caught him in the shoulder with one of its spikes. He fell to the ground, and lied there in pain. Roxanne covered her mouth, but didn't say anything to Caza.
Caza strolled to the man casually, and bent down to retrieve his chakram and Roxanne's two needles. He kicked the man when he stood up, saying something about the man getting the hell out of his sight. The Lightning user gripped his injured shoulder and arm, but left, disappearing into the maze of streets called Camaria.
"Here..." Caza said, handing Roxanne her needles. Roxanne quietly thanked him.
"Is it all right that you just let him go?" Jim asked.
"They'll be all over the city looking for us soon. He's the least of our worried right now..." Roxanne said.
"Have you closed your Gate?" Caza asked Roxanne monotonously.
"Well, no, not yet..."
"Then let's get you there..." Caza said.
"But, didn't you close your Gate already?" Roxanne asked, looking between Caza and Jim. "You can leave, you don't need to be here anymore, I can go by myself..."
"No," Caza said, still sounding monotone. "We all agreed to do this, and if one of us just quits, then it'll all be in vain."
"Oh..." Roxanne said, surprised Caza was talking so much. "Thank you..."
"It's 11:45" Ken said. "We should be leaving now."
"Go outside and wait for us," Kyo said to Kaira, and partly to Taj. "We'll handle things here..."
Kaira led Taj outside, then put her dragon down to play in the grass. The moon had been behind clouds, but it had just come out, raining it's light upon the fields just outside. In the distance there were sounds of thunder. Kaira looked away into the city concerned.
"Do you think they're all okay in there?" she asked Taj.
"I dunno..." Taj said. "Come on, let's go."
"Go where?" Kaira asked. Taj was walking into the fields with his hands in his pockets.
"Into the fields," Taj said. "It doesn't sound good in the city, so I'm getting you away into the fields, we were going there anyway."
"But we gotta wait for Ken and Kyo! They'll be out in just a minute!" Ryo the Dragon looked up at his adoptive mother and purred in confusion.
"We're going into the fields anyway, so it won’t matter, they'll just meet us out there, that's all." Taj kept walking into the fields. Kaira wanted to stay and wait for Kyo and Ken, since it had been Taj's fault they were left behind, but she didn't want Taj wandering off by himself. She picked Ryo the Dragon up and hurriedly ran after Taj.
Taj led them farther and farther out away from the city. Kaira kept looking back, hoping to see Ken and Kyo following behind them.
"Taj, we should stop and wait..." Kaira said in a worried voice.
"Why do we always gotta think about Kyo?" Taj said angrily. "I hate that prick!"
Kaira fell silent, not knowing what to say. She wished Roxanne or her mother was there to help her. Even Ryo would have been nice.
A small light came on in the distance. Kaira looked at it, until she realized it was slowly growing brighter, and coming towards them.
"Taj..." Kaira said quietly, grabbing his arm. Taj looked after her and saw it too.
"Shit..." Taj said under his breath. It was a car.
"What do we do...?" Kaira asked. She looked for Kyo and Ken once more, but they were still not to be seen.
"I'll try and fight them off..." Taj said.
"No! You can't! We're already in trouble!" Kaira pleaded.
"Well, what do we do?!" Taj asked, as the car came closer. "Do we run?"
"Wouldn't that make us more suspicious?" Kaira asked. She quickly hid Ryo the Dragon in one of her large pant pockets and shushed him.
The vehicle slowly approached them, until it pulled up right beside Kaira and Taj. The man driving the car had a dark gray Camarian uniform and the sign of Water on his chest. The one in the passenger seat had the sign for Ice on his chest. Kaira took a deep breath. A Water and Ice User.
"What are you kids doing out here?" asked the passenger, eyeing them. "You know no one's allowed into the fields at night these days."
Kaira and Taj gave each other nervous glances. The Camarians thought they were citizens of Camaria. Kaira felt lucky they didn't recognize them and decided to play along.
"Yes, I'm sorry, we were just...going," Kaira said with a nervous laugh. She nudged Taj to laugh with her.
"Hmm, all right, get in, we'll drive you." said the driver, patting the back seats. Taj's eyes grew.
"Well, we can just walk, it's really very close..." he said.
"Close?" asked the driver, looking at them suspiciously. "The nearest housing district is a half-hour walk!"
"We really don't mind!" Kaira insisted. She prayed Kyo and Ken would find them soon.
"What housing district do you live in little lady? And what's your Element?" Kaira looked down, wishing she new the name of at least one housing district in Camaria.
"I'm an, uh, Lightning...User..." Kaira said shyly.
"And your housing district?"
"We're both new in town, we can't remember!" Taj said getting in front of Kaira.
"...you're both gonna have to come with us then," the passenger said. He stepped out of their truck and opened the back seat for Kaira and Taj to enter. He gave them both suspicious and stern looks. Kaira looked at Taj hopelessly, then entered the truck, being careful not to sit on her hiding dragon. Taj hesitated, then entered the truck after her.
"Where the hell are they?!" Kyo said angrily, looking around for Kaira and Taj.
"That idiot's gonna get them both killed..." Ken said lowly. They were both looking around for any signs of their companions.
"Dammit!" Kyo cursed. Ken looked out into the field. Way off in the distance, he saw a truck that was heading back towards them. Ken pointed it out to Kyo, and they stood silent, watching the truck come closer. The truck turned away, heading into a street back into the city. Ken and Kyo ran to meet it, hiding around corners. Kyo got a glimpse of Kaira in the back seat.
"I should have never trusted that idiot with her!" Kyo said through his teeth. The truck disappeared into the city.
Ryo's eyes slowly reverted back to their normal green color and he sheathed his sword. The corpses of Users who had tried following him littered the ally around him. Ryo looked down upon them, but didn't feel any remorse or regret. He slowly reached up and felt his temple.
Is something wrong with me? Ryo thought, Why is it I can kill without feeling bad or anything...?
Ryo closed his eyes and walked away. He could hear thunder and explosions in the distance, but he didn't take any notice of it.
"I have to get to the Seventh Gate..." Ryo said aloud to himself. "From here...that should be northwest...I just gotta look for a big important-looking Cathedral in the center of the city."
Ryo opened his eyes to realize he was going the wrong way. He doubled back around on the right path.
But before I close my Gate, I have to make sure everyone else closes their Gate first...
"Ryo?"
Ryo turned his head to see Leo standing there. He looked unharmed, still wearing his black shirt with black pants with red lining. He gave Ryo a smile that looked tired. Ryo smiled back. He always knew they looked alike, but it wasn't until then he realized they even dressed the same.
"You made it out okay?" Ryo asked.
"Yeah..." Leo said, exhaling deeply. "Just had a few followers, nothing difficult..."
"Are you hurt?" Ryo asked, seeing Leo had a slight limp to his walk.
"No..." Leo said, hiding his lie.
"Did you see anyone else?"
"No...but that might be for the better, they all should be getting to their Gates as fast as possible."
"Where's your Gate?" Ryo asked. He couldn't remember where the Gate of Fire was. Leo looked up, recalling the map.
"It's the Gate farthest to the Northwest...in the northwestern part of the city..."
"Okay, let's get going." Ryo said. He purposely walked slower to make things easier for Leo, who was still trying to hide his limp.
"I'm hungry..." Ryo commented. Leo gave a soft laugh.
"I don't have anything..."
Ryo stopped when they came across the Camarian corpses he had killed before coming across Leo. Leo looked around at the bodies, then went on walking ahead of Ryo.
"You did this?" he asked Ryo. Ryo nodded silently.
"Leo...is there something wrong with me?"
"What?" Leo gave his brother a strange look. "Wrong with you? Like what?"
"I dunno..." Ryo said stepping past the corpses. "Do normal people kill impulsively without regret?"
"I wouldn't know. None of us are very normal in this group..." Leo said. "Dimi's a grown man with the mind of a small child. Kalon's got issues, Caza's a rock, Janon's a douche, and we're all Angels trying to take down an Empire."
Ryo had to admit, Leo did raise some good points.
"You're normal," Ryo said. "You don't murder people, you're an adult, you solve your issues, you don't have the same face all the time, and you're not a douche."
"That doesn't make me normal," Leo said. His limping was slowly improving. "I just might be the one well put together..."
Ryo didn't say anything back for awhile. He stared at the ground, following wherever Leo went with his side-vision.
"And no, I don't think anything's wrong with you," Leo said at last. "I can't imagine you being any other way, really..."
Ahead of them, Steel entered the street. He looked at Ryo and Leo with mild surprise, then smiled.
"I told you I'd find you Demon..." Steel said. Ryo became annoyed.
"Were you following us?" Ryo said in a low voice.
"No, I had problems of my own." Steel raised his right metallic arm. It was crested in blood. Leo looked away and wondered if he really was the only normal one.
"Go find someone else to taunt," Ryo said, walking past Steel with Leo. "We're going to the Gate of Fire..."
"I can't leave you alone Demon," Steel said simply. "You're the most important key to this mission."
"Don't talk like I'm the only important one here," Ryo said. He looked over at Leo, who was still limping slightly. Leo was never one to complain about his troubles.
