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Chapter 31: Prequel to Battle

             Once introduced to one another, the party consisting of Joel, Lynn, Ryan, Luke, Dirk, and Junicon transferred into a much larger room.  This room appeared to be more of a dinner meeting room with potted plants and small trees set along the walls with pictures of previous known popular mayors and events of Traquo placed on the surface.  Bowls of fruit and vases of flowers set on top of the fine wooden table which was surrounded by many comfortable cushioned chairs.  Luke dismissed his guards from the room and asked his company to sit down.

            “Alright!  Food!” Lynn cried as she reached out to the center of the table for a bowl of fruit.

            Although Lynn’s short arms could not reach the bowls from where she sat, Ryan reached forward and pushed it back for her.  He watched his short female friend devour half of the fruit after a long foodless day and then looked down as his stomach growled.  Lynn was loud and messy with the bowl of fruit, letting bits of fruit and juice spread beyond the bounds of her mouth.  Joel reached out to the table and pulled in a basket of fruit for himself and removed an apple.  He gazed at the apple sharply as he focused blazing energy through his hands, causing the apple to cook slowly.  Once the apple darkened and began to roast, Joel plucked the stem from the top of the apple and consumed the piece of fruit, leaving the core behind.

            Ryan looked up and asked, “Hey man, I don’t suppose you got any real food around here?  The most I ever get to eat is fried monster, because I’m always out on the road!”

            “It’s your fault for not seasoning the stuff right, mister!” Lynn told Ryan, looking up from the bowl.

            Luke nodded and said, “Naturally, we do.  Dinner time is now, so they will be bringing out tonight’s special.”

            Dirk sat silently looking around at everyone as if he did not belong in the room and carried worries of saying anything at all with his position.  When Joel noticed this he nudged to his right softly into Dirk’s side and nodded his head at him.  When Dirk felt the nudge he sighed and continued his deep thoughts.

            “Why are you so quiet, Dirk?  Aren’t you glad to see familiar faces again?” Joel asked his old friend.

            “I’d just rather not cause a ruckus right now.  The hospitality’s been real fancy, though.” Dirk responded.

            “We’re here to fix things.  Don’t worry.” Joel told him.

            Luke cleared his throat and said, “Yes, speaking of which.” He turned to Junicon and said, “Junicon said he’s brought information regarding our city’s problem.”

            Junicon revealed from his cloak a small disk, which he inserted into a computer on the side of his chair.  A projector opened up and flashed an image of one of the small mask monsters over the table.

            “We have determined that these are very agile creatures and have a strong shell.” Junicon explained, “They seem to be immune to all of our attacks.  These attacks include bullets, missiles, and laser cannons.  Every attack yields no damage.”

            Lynn frowned and said, “Tell us something we don’t know!”

            Junicon’s mask suddenly flipped again, this time to a look of confusion and deep thought, and Ryan called out across the table, “Hey man, you’re freaking me out with that face flip thing!”

            Joel looked to Ryan and asked, “Face flip?”

            Luke waved his hands and said, “Don’t worry about that.  It’s just his way of showing his emotional expressions.  The people where Junicon come from aren’t allowed to show their faces, so they carry a lot of masks.”

            “These creatures have been attacking the citizens of our city almost constantly.” Junicon continued, ignoring the others, “Their tactics are to knock people out and latch themselves upon their victim’s face where they then proceed to cut the face off and run way with it.  The only thing that prevents the victim from dying of blood loss is the mask that is placed on their face, which seals onto them.  Unfortunately this also possesses them into assisting the other monsters.  We have not yet determined where they flee to with the human faces.”

            “Didn’t we hear the monster that attacked us say something?” Lynn asked Joel.

            Joel nodded and said, “Something about power for the master.”

            Luke’s eyes widened as he heard them and asked his guests, “So you three were attacked by the creatures?  Tell us how you managed to survive!”

            Ryan pointed at his hosts and asked, “You don’t study much on us Guardians, do you, man?”  He let loose a sly grin and said, “Nothing can take us out!”

            Joel crossed his arms and provided a more serious look and said, “That’s why we had to save you from it.”  He looked forward at Luke and said, “We were coming out from the mountain cave when we were attacked.  Ryan seemed to have things under control, but it tricked him and locked onto him.  It was then we had to fight him and destroy the mask on him to break the spell controlling him.”

            Ryan nodded and crossed his arms as well and said, “Right!  There’s something else that can be added to our information regarding these creatures!”  The room turned their attention to Ryan as he said, “It’s not because they have a super hard shell that protects them from all common attacks, but it’s more that they’re completely immune to any and all non-magical attacks in general.”

            Ryan began to nod repeatedly at his own statement as everyone soaked it into their heads.

            “Oh, that’s right!” Lynn exclaimed, “You could smash anything with strength like Ryan’s, but when he was in a fist to face situation with the monster the mask wasn’t even cracking!”

            “So that’s why you started powering up an energy attack.” Joel said.

            “Yeah, man.” Ryan said with a nod, “And my weapon did some damage because all Guardian styled weapons carry innate magical properties.”

            Dirk grasped his seat and said, “But that means we have an even less of a chance than we thought before if we can’t hurt them.  New World hasn’t been known to have any magic users that live here.  They all go to Old World to study magic.”

            “Well I never said we needed to look for other magic users, man.” Ryan said as he looked down at Dirk, “If Joel and I work the right way we can take them all out by ourselves.”

            Lynn hopped about in her seat and cried, “But what about me?”

            Her face drooped as Ryan told her, “You wouldn’t help us at all, because you don’t know magic and your hoops aren’t magical.”

            Joel suddenly slouched with a sigh and said, “What a great time for my sword to break!”

            “The sword?  What sword?”  Dirk asked Joel, “You aren’t talking about the one we found with you?”

            Luke nodded slowly and said, “I’m afraid that’s what he’s talking about, Dirk.  Our latest technology was enough to almost succeed in preventing any damage from his weapon, but it was enough to destroy the weapon anyway.  We didn’t see this coming, though, which means our only viable fighter for close ranged combat will be Ryan.”  They all nodded in agreement and Luke followed up with, “If I recall, Guardians have a unique ability to fly without using any mechanics.  Would it be possible for you two to search the area for where the monsters might be going to?”

            Joel began to stutter and sweat as he heard the request being put up to him.  He knew that he could not fly just yet, but there was also something else that had begun to bother him.

            “Umm, Luke.  I take it you aren’t finding anything with your airplanes?” Joel asked.

            “Aerial searches such as that require money and resources.  Guardian flying abilities require nothing.” Junicon mentioned.

            Luke nodded in agreement with Junicon and said, “That’s right.  I can imagine that after this is all said and done when we finally get rid of our problem with these monsters we will need to rebuild much of the city.  For that we’ll need as much money and resources as we can keep maintained.  So that’s why I’m asking for this additional favor.”

            Ryan nodded and said, “Sounds good to me, man.”  He looked back towards the kitchen entrance and added, “And from the looks of things I’ll be making two trips around the area!”

            Much to the rest of the party’s surprise, workers from the kitchen appeared while pushing large carts holding platters of food.  They stopped the carts around the table and began to set up plates in front of the guests, followed by napkins and silverware.  The platters of food were then placed in the center of the table ready to be picked from.  The workers also asked each party member what they desired for refreshments and drinks as they ate.  The food consisted of turkey and ham prepared in various different ways, be it roasted, baked, or set on top of a salad.  Vegetables alone apart from salads were also made available around the table.

            “Better make it three.” Ryan said as he batted his chest to clear his throat, “I haven’t eaten like this in some time!”

            “I like the feeling of sitting down with old friends and enjoying a meal.” Joel said.

            “Thanks for letting me join you all in this occasion.” Dirk said as he plucked at his food.

            Luke paused for a moment and turned toward Dirk and said, “Oh yes.  You’re free for now, Dirk.  As long as there’s an understanding between us all that none of us are at fault at what is happening to the city.”

            The food all slowly vanished from the table as the party disposed of it through their mouths.  Luke’s servants reappeared and took away each empty platter as they were cleared.  During the dinner’s aftermath they conversed with each other about themselves and where they each came from as they allowed their food to set in their stomachs.

            As all conversations came to a close and the room grew silent once more, Ryan stood up tall and said, “Well, I can’t stay here all day.  We have monsters to kill!”

            Joel shrunk down in his seat as Ryan announced his departure, but he was unable to hide as Ryan reached down as pulled his friend out from his seat and dragged him outside.  Lynn also bounced out from her seat and began chasing Ryan and Joel down the hall to see her friends off.

            Dirk watched the three leave, and as they disappeared down the hall he turned back towards Luke and Junicon and said, “Let’s make the most out of this truce of ours, friend.”

            “Indeed.” Luke said as he lifted his cup for another sip.  He placed the cup down and took a deep breath and then heard a slithering shaking sound from Junicon next to him and asked, “Is there something wrong Junicon?”  Luke stood up from his seat and waited for a response, and he and Dirk examined the humanoid carefully before Luke turned around and said, “Well, whatever’s wrong, join us in a bit in the watch room so we can watch Joel and Ryan’s progress.  I’ll send a guard down to escort Lynn up safely when things begin.”

            Luke shook his head and waved at Dirk to follow, and the two men left Junicon alone.

            “Maybe he’s just letting all the food he ate settle down before he comes.” Dirk assumed.

            “I’ve never seen Junicon eat before.  He just doesn’t eat.” Luke told Dirk, “I don’t know how he keeps going without it, but whenever he starts to shake like that he begins to really stink like a crazy monster.”  He stopped in his place down the hall beside a wooden piece of work and knocked on it, saying, “Knock on wood.”

            Dirk gave a slight smile and a chuckle to Luke’s comment like a weak joke.

            Junicon, still in the dining room, shook violently in the empty room.  He brought his hands up from his cloak and clawed at his mask as if it itched.  The tips of his fingers on his scaly hands began to rip through the surface and the mask began to rot.

            “This face will not last me much longer.  Curse human flesh for rotting.” Junicon mumbled to himself.  The face mask began to crumble away into Junicon’s helmet and another one of a much more angry expression flipped out into view, and Junicon mumble to himself again, “I need more power!  I need control!  I need my minions to come!”

            Ryan stopped in the middle of the hall as he dragged Joel out and closed his eyes.  He went into deep concentration through the agonizing sound of Joel’s cries as he batted his back down.

            “Hey man, do you feel that aura?” Ryan asked his friend.

            Joel’s eyes grew big and shed several tears as he cried, “Yes!  That’s called skid burns!”

            As Lynn caught up with her friends she asked, “What’s wrong you two?  Why are you stopped here?  The exit isn’t for another few halls.”

            Ryan shook his head and said, “I just locked on to a strong sensation, and it wasn’t anything like our little critter friends from outside.”

            “Maybe some monsters found another way into the base?” Lynn asked.

            “Maybe.” Ryan said as he turned his head slowly around the area, “Be careful while we’re out there, Lynn.”

            For a moment the two looked at each other, locking eyes and staring at one another.  Lynn felt her body push itself toward Ryan in a dreamy trance and moved around Joel, who was still on the ground on the ground whimpering and crying about his burning back.  In that moment Lynn felt as if she could reach up and give the tall Guardian a good bye kiss for good luck.  She mumbled his name as a small tear of concern came from her eye, and as she edged closer to Ryan, Ryan’s face brightened up into a grin and tapped Lynn away, causing her to stumble into another’s arms behind her.  She looked back and found a Traquo guard had caught her.

            “Hey!  What’s the big idea!” Lynn growled.

            Joel continued to roll about with his hands over his back and eventually hopped on his feet and began running back and forth around the hall.

            “Luke sent me to bring you to the watch room with him, Dirk, and Junicon so you don’t place yourself in danger outside with the monsters.” The guard informed her.

            “Sorry kid, but we’ve got to go!” Ryan exclaimed.

            “You ruined my moment.” Lynn told him with a disgusted look.

            Ryan reached out and caught Joel by his collar again and said, “Well, man, let’s go!”

            Joel’s expression returned to normal as his back pains vanished and he quickly said, “Wait!  I want to do something before we go!”

“What’s up?” Ryan asked his friend as he let go of his collar once more.

Joel patted down his jacket and clothes and then looked at the guard and asked, “Do you have any arena training rooms down here?”

The man nodded and said, “A few.  What do you need one for?”

“The mask monster that controlled Ryan earlier today was able to take control over his energy attacks, too.  That tells me that the master mind behind this may know how to use energy attacks as well.” Joel explained, “I’m not sure how to guard and deflect energy attacks yet, so I want to take a few moments to get it down before I fight any of those things.”

Lynn crossed her arms and said, “That’s a good idea, Joel!  We don’t want you losing another arm for a whole fight again.”

The two looked up at Ryan, who returned the look back, and sarcastically asked, “So who’s going to help you train with energy attacks?”

A moment of silence crossed the four.  A gust of air and trash blew by them in the midst of the moment.  Joel then lowered his head and sighed and Lynn jumped up behind Ryan and hit the back side of his head.  Ryan gritted his teeth and his eyes felt like they were about to pop out as Lynn hit him.

“Hey!  Come on you two!” Ryan exclaimed.

The guard looked quietly between the three for a moment after the moment, cleared his throat, and said, “Yes, come on, I’ll show you to a place you can work in for a short time.”

            The three were directed by the guard down the hall once more and down an elevator several levels.  The doors opened up to reveal more of a military strategic training area.  Tanks and other armored vehicles were parked in rows around the center ready to be taken out.  Weaponry and bombs were locked down on along tables and walls all around the area.  Censors and detectors beeped quietly on computers as radars and cameras scanned the entire area.

            “This way, please.” The guard told them, waving his arm across the bridge.

            He guided the three to a room, which opened up into another medium sized underground room that was quite empty besides the heavy metal linings and lighting system.  Joel and Ryan entered in and look around, but as Lynn moved in the guard stopped her and pushed her away.

            “I’m sorry, but it’s too dangerous for you here, ma’am.” The man told Lynn, “If anything happens during their training you may be hit with a misfire from these two, or highly explosive material may be set off and you would be caught inside the explosion.”

            “But I want to watch them!” Lynn complained like a child, stomping her feet into the metal floor.

            Ryan turned around and motioned his hands at Lynn, balling his hands into fists, sticking his left thumb up, and put his right fist down over it.  He bent it to the side a little and made a plopping sound with his mouth.

            Seeing this, Lynn irked and stepped away and grumbled, “Okay, I get it!”

            She began to walk away with the guard following her back to the elevator.  The two returned to the level they ate at and walked through many halls until they met up with Luke and Dirk again.  There they channeled a TV screen to a camera inside the training room that they had left Joel and Ryan in.

            Inside the dim room the two faced each other quietly, gathering their thoughts together.  One after the other they then charged their energy back using their charging technique, and then stood in proper fighting stances.

            “Alright man, so you want to learn how to deflect energy blasts.” Ryan said.

            “Right.” Joel said with a nod.

            Ryan brought his right hand out and summoned an orb of his energy, causing the room the light up, and he instructed, “The secret to deflecting energy attacks is this.  As soon as you see the attack coming you gotta channel your own energy to match it, therefore taking control over it.  Then you can push it away.  This is a great test of speed and reflex.”  He allowed his energy ball to dissipate and then said, “Attack me first and I’ll show you, and then you can try.”

            Joel nodded again and placed both his arms extended out in front of him.  He breathed and readied a Fire Bolt attack, but Ryan shook his head at Joel rapidly.

            “Wait!  Don’t go all out, man!” Ryan exclaimed, “Let’s keep the energy waves weak.  Use as little power as you can so we can make the most out of our time.”

            “Oh.  I’m sorry.”  Joel said, lowering an arm, “I’m not trying to hurt you or anything.”

            “Not a problem!” Ryan said with a grin.

            With that, Joel extended a single finger from his right hand, pointing at Ryan, and shot a small bolt toward his friend.  As the attack sped for Ryan he waved his hand in front of it and slapped it away.  The magical force of fire bounced away towards the side of the room.  Joel followed the beam with his eyes, and as the bolt crashed and dissipated he returned to focusing on Ryan.

            Joel then removed his jacket and set it down aside on the floor.  He repositioned himself with his legs reinforced on the ground and his arm guarding his body.  Ryan nodded and brought his extended arm down and brought the opposite arm up and fired a light beam towards Joel.  It was hard for him to concentrate on the speeding bullet, and as it neared him he waved his hand as Ryan did in an attempt to deflect it away.  Ryan’s magic beam was not deflected, though, but instead collided onto the back of Joel’s wrist and arm, singeing it radically.  He grasped his arm with his other arm and gritted his teeth as he waited for it to heal.

            “Woah, sorry man!  I wasn’t expecting it to hit you that bad!” Ryan exclaimed.

            Joel shook his head and looked up at Ryan again, ignoring the pain in his arm, and said, “Let’s try that again.”

            “You’re sure, man?” Ryan asked, “Well all right.”

            Ryan summoned another orb of energy into his hands and threw another towards his friend.  Joel continued to try focusing on the balls to hit them away, but he again failed and his arms were blistered and burned even worse.  Joel still ignored his slight injuries and waved at Ryan to continue coming at him.  The more Ryan shot at Joel the worse his arms became until the energy balls tore away the skin and muscles of both his lower arms and only bones with ligaments and cartilage holding them together showed.  At this point Joel finally let out and dropped to his knees, still holding in the pain and suffering.  He breathed deeply trying to comfort himself until his body allowed him to regenerate.

            “This isn’t getting us anywhere, man.” Ryan told Joel.

            “I know.  I’m just not good at this energy control stuff right off the bat.” Joel said with a nod, looking down to the side.  As fresh lower arms shot out into place Joel stood up and said, “It’s a risk I have to take, but let’s take care of the monsters outside before it gets too much later.”

            Ryan scratched his head for a moment and then shrugged and said, “Alright, it’s your funeral.”

            Joel retrieved his jacket from the ground and waved for Ryan to come.  They turned for the door and were directed back to the main level by another guard.  The man handed the two Guardians each an ear plug communicator as he walked them to the take off area up the tower to the top of the base.

            “Put these on.  With these we’ll be able to talk to you from any point.” The guard told them.

            Joel and Ryan nodded and began to figure out how to equip themselves with the communicators.

            “That’s a good idea, man.  Not only will you be able to give us updates on the outside, but you’ll also be able to call us for help if anything happens on the inside.” Ryan said as he adjusted his around his ear.

            The three arrived at the top of the launch tower and looked outside.  From the top of the base they were close to the dim clouds that covered over the sky.  They gazed down towards the ground and watched the many mask monsters screeching and screaming all around the city grounds.  All of the monsters stopped skittering around the ground and began trying to climb up to the top of the tower in order to attack the three, but the extensive height and smooth surface of the tower made it impossible for the monsters to make it up without sliding and falling back down.  Ryan inched to a side of the tower’s roof and let out a pleasant grin as he sent a wave of energy from his fingers down towards the creatures.  Each wave expanded into small explosions as they collided with a monster.

            “I could do this all day!” Ryan said following a cackle.

            Joel walked around the roof, looking down from all sides of the top, and asked, “But would this be the most efficient way of taking care of them?”

            Ryan shook his head and said, “Nah.  The fastest way would be tossing you down in a Fire Phase attack and letting all of the monsters run into the field and dying trying to get your face!”

            Joel shuddered and ran his hand over his face from top to bottom and muttered, “My face…”

            “Just like flies into a light bulb.” Ryan said with a nod.

            Luke’s voice buzzed into the Guardians’ ears calling out, “Okay you two, I see you’re both at the roof.  Are you ready to commence the mission?”

            Ryan saluted the air before him and said, “Ready to kick some face, man!”

            “I’m ready, too.” Joel said, “Take care of yourselves inside the base.”

            “You, too, Joel.” Luke said, “Be careful while you’re flying out there tonight.”

            It hit Joel again, and he shuddered violently.  He swallowed hard and looked up at Ryan for a moment and then down at the ground towards the monsters.

            “Fly?” Joel moaned.

            Ryan patted Joel’s back and said, “No need to fly.  Just float like you did before!  When you get down far enough you can just land and jump up again and continue what you were doing.”  He edged closer to Joel, who was slowly backing away, and he looked him right in the eyes and asked, “Right?”  Joel began shaking his head at Ryan, and Ryan grabbed him by the arm and tossed Joel up into the air and said, “Come on, let’s go!”

            Joel caught onto Ryan’s arm as he was flung out and crawled back onto the building in a whimper.  Ryan sighed and slapped himself on his forehead.

            “What’s wrong, Joel?” Ryan asked slowly.

            Joel shook his head and mumbled, “I don’t know… I just can’t…”

            Ryan leaned down closer to Joel and asked, “What’s that?  I couldn’t hear what you just said.”

            “I said I can’t remember how to make floating work again!” Joel exclaimed.

            Ryan’s eyes burst wide open and exclaimed, “What!  How could you forget?”

            “I don’t know.  I must have forgotten how to while I was sleeping.” Joel cried.

            Ryan set Joel down on the roof of the building again, and Joel let go and stood up tall.  He let out a deep sigh of relief and wiped he forehead clear of worry.  Ryan turned around and looked down around the city again and folded his arms together and began to think.

            “I’m pretty sure it’ll all come back in short time.” Ryan told Joel, “Granted forgetting new and unpracticed things over sleep is a very human quality, though.  We all have a little human in us!”

            Luke’s voice came in through the communicators around their ears as the two pondered, “Joel, Ryan, what’s going on out there?”

            Ryan tapped his ear where the communicator was and called out, “Nothing’s wrong, man.  Joel’s just having some difficulty getting off the ground is all.”

            “Look back down towards the ground.  I think the monsters are trying something different.” Luke told them.

            Joel and Ryan looked down at the monsters closely and noticed they had stopped trying to crawl up the side of the building.  Instead they were creating a tower consisting of themselves that they could climb up to reach the top with.  Each of them jumped up and dog piled onto each other into a thick tower that had already reached a quarter of the distance up.  Joel quickly reached down and launched a barrage of small Fire Bolts down to disassemble the tower of monsters, causing them to drop line rain back to the ground.

            “Got it all taken care of, boss!” Ryan informed Luke.

            “Not just there, they’re starting to do it all around.” Luke told them, “There’s so many of them that they could crawl up a tower twice the size of this one!”

            “Not for long!” Ryan said with a sparkling grin.  He turned to Joel and said, “Stay up here and blast them down on all sides, Joel.  I’m going sky bound!”

            Joel acknowledged Ryan with a nod as his friend lifted up into the air and flew off.  He then ran around the roof checking each side and shooting several flaming attacks down at the monsters to knock away their attempts to build towers to climb up to the top.  Aerial monsters began flying in over the city barriers, avoiding and deflecting the city’s defenses of machinegun and laser beam firing towers using the masked monsters that they carried around them.  The monstrous vultures screamed with high speed around the city structures and locked on to the military building.

            “Flying monsters incoming!” a voice called out through the communicator in Joel’s ear.

            Joel looked up into the air and found the monsters coming from all around and shot out towards them as well, but the vultures were too fast to be hit by Joel’s attacks.  As they closed in on the building the monsters began to drop down.  Some landed around the roof, some just made it and skittered up from the edge of the roof, some fell from that same point, and others missed the roof completely, falling all the way down to the ground again with the other monsters.

            Joel waved at the guards standing about the roof and called out, “Get inside to safety!”

            Meanwhile, Ryan had been flying high over the city, avoiding the monsters from below and saving his energy by not attacking.  He left the city boundaries and watched the masses of monsters from all around scurry to the city, but as he just left the city limits he noticed that he found the ends of the army of monsters.  Ryan continued to fly around the ends of the monsters but never was able to find a trail of where the monsters were coming from.

            “That can’t be right.  There’s no trail leading out of here like the monsters would have.” Ryan thought.  He took a closer look around the city and thought, “Unless they hide out in the city somewhere when they’re not attacking.”  He tapped his communicator on his ear to get the attention of headquarters and called out, “I’m not finding anything out here, man.  I’m going down to the ground and see if I can attract some attention.”

            “I’m sure you will.  I have some up on the roof here that are giving me the time of my life.” Joel told Ryan through the communicator as he rapidly hopped up and kicked several monsters back, guarded himself with his arms, and blasted some monsters with his Fire Bolt attacks.

            Ryan revealed his Masamura sword and dropped to the ground outside the monsters and watched them turn in masses towards him from Traquo.  He began to transmit his energy into and around his weapon and released it in a wide swing, creating a wave of cutting energy that split a large number of the monsters headed toward him.  The energy that hit the monsters surrounded them and crackled violently through the remainder of the creatures.  More monsters continued to parade towards Ryan through the cloud of their fellow beings, and Ryan continued to fight back with more energy shots.  It was not long before the Guardian decided that he could not hold his own ground and began to draw back as he continued to fire away.  He lifted himself up into the air and glided back away from the oncoming monsters.

            At the same time Joel was busy dancing around the roof of the base tower.  By this time as Joel was distracted by the monsters that had made their way up by aerial means the monsters climbing the sides of the towers had finally succeeded in climbing all the way up.  He was surrounded by the blood thirsty creatures and had begun to fire out as much as he could in every direction that he could turn to until he let out all of his power into a giant area explosion of a Fire Phase attack.  The attack engulfed the entire roof and surrounding area inside a fiery sphere, incinerating the monsters inside it as well as the ones that tried to enter.

            Eventually the monster flow up towards the roof slowed down to a halt.  Joel cleared up his outburst of energy and looked down around all of the sides to see what was going on.  What he found was the monsters on the ground becoming less agitated and excited.  They quieted down on the ground and stood at what looked like attention for someone’s arrival.

            Ryan could feel his energy running low as he continued to defend himself, but he also began to notice the monsters backing off and returning to the city in an orderly fashion.  He stood his position of defense there for a moment, and then used his remaining powers to deliver himself through teleportation back to the base tower.  Ryan let out a deep breath of relief as he walked up to join Joel by his side in watching over the city.

            Their ears began to ring in small screeches of irritation as the air filled up with high pitched screams as if the little monsters were singing.  The monsters began to dance little dances in their anticipation.  The center of the gathering had been set around the entrance of the military fortress, and the entrance began to slowly open up.  From within appeared the shadow of Junicon, who was slowly crawling outside with his hands pierced through two guards’ bodies.  He lead a trail of blood and strange bubbling ooze as he moved on and into the crowd of monsters.

            “Is that Junicon?” A voice came in through the communicators.

            Another voice crackled in and called out, “It can’t be.  Look at it.  It has no face!”

            Ryan grinned and let out a small chuckle and said, “Oh it’s him alright.  That’s no big surprise.”

            As Junicon approached the masses of monsters they cleared out of the way and opened a walking path for him.  The monsters surrounded Junicon and as soon as he stopped in the middle of the road they quickly crawled up to him and climbed onto, around, and through him.  His figure then began to glow with a strange eerie aura that jolted a misfortunate feeling through the two Guardians.  The feeling was that of something worse than the evil which had befallen Traquo, but what exactly could it have been?

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