The Way Back

"No one knows."

*He begins making ghost noises.*

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*Kari points her gun at the monster, energy gathering in the barrel before a large blast is fired off.*

~Kentaro & Allina~

*She abruptly looks around and gasps, startled. Noticing Kentaro's doing the noises, she glares at him and holds a hand out.*

Allina: <So. Freaking. Funny. Help me up, Kenta.>

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~Kari & Lucien~

*The Mama Ice Trodent takes a few steps back and tries to dodge Kari's attack, but gets shot in the right shoulder and screeches in pain. It then opens its mouth, a barrage of man-sized ice crystals shooting out of it towards Lucien and Kari.*

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~Alto & Crowley~

*The dragon closes its eyes and lets the fire wash over him, seemingly enjoying it. Its tail aims at Alto and Crowley and shoots a large sphere of explosive energy. Allina The Water Nymph leaps backwards away from Crowley and morphs into Parker as soon as it lands. It closes it eyes and starts chanting a beautiful melody. Alto and Crowley both start feeling mighty dizzy and attracted to the nymph as the dragon's sphere heads towards them.*

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~Creed & Kelphy~

*She smiles and nods firmly. Ripples appear on the surface of the water right beneath her feet and she looks down, widens her eyes, and leaps back just in time to dodge the bite of an Undead Searaptor darting out of the water.*

"Shit"

Luna, lend me your strength

Alto's body glows as his mana and Luna's fuse. His hair changes to the same color has her's as does his eyes. With the extra power he slams his influence against the Nymph breaking her spell before shoulder checking Crowley out of the way with himself to dodge the blast.

---

Lucien's attack scrapes against the momma trodent's leg drawing blood before he makes another leaping pass at her flank avoiding the ice shards whilst his shadow hands block the shards from hitting Kari.

---

Creed leaps too, "These guys again?"

*He takes her hand and helps her up.*

=====================================================

"Th-thank you!"

*Crowley rolls on the floor before quickly jumping back up. The swords of energy disappear from his hand.*

Crowley: [Ah, so it's a shapeshifter... and that song might be a problem, too.]

*Crowley turns his gaze to Alto, and then to the dragon.*

Crowley: <It might be better if we traded opponents.>

~Kentaro & Allina~

*She raises her hands to pull on her pigtails before remembering she doesn't have them anymore and frowns, looking at Kentaro.*

Allina: <I don't suppose you've found any clue of where we might find an exit or... anything that isn't... all of this?>

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~Kari & Lucien~

*It only takes the trodent a step to turn its head to Lucien again and drive its left claws into him while swinging its tail at Kari.*

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~Alto & Crowley~

*The dragon says screw the chain and flies upwards. Considering its massive choice, Alto's also dragged with him unless he lets go. Hovering above the mesa, the dragon breaths a cloud of flames down on it. The Nymph leaps upwards into the fire and evaporates almost instantly.*

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~Creed & Kelphy~

*She looks at him and shrugs, shaking her head, before holding her right hand out towards the Undead Searaptor to cast a spell. She's suddenly splashed with water and in a fraction of a second three Glacier Cobra have emerged from the water and nailed their teeth on her. Two have the arm she had stretched out in their mouths, and the other one is biting her left shoulder and part of her neck. She initially widens her eyes in shock and then gasps in pain and falls back. The monsters don't let go and pull her underwater.*

*Derek cries in pain, but hears a voice inside his head.*

Efreet: <Don't give up now, kid. You're too much of a pain in the ass to die here.>

*Derek looks up at the dragon he's just injured, as his hand glows with fire.*

Derek: <Alright... YOU'RE DEAD, YOU LIZARD FREAK!>

*He charges at it, swiping at it with a beastly rage with his awesome Efreet claw. He slams the ground after 7 swipes, which propels it into the air, and he jumps up to match its movements. In the blink of an eye, he draws his sword and brings it down in a brilliant explosion of light. For reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq_LT_1PeE4*

~Derek~

*The Ala Negra dies deader than any Ala Negra has died in the history of the species. The other one shits its tail feathers and fucks off darts down, shooting a beam of energy at Derek from its mouth.*

Alto let's go of the chain but smiles as it explodes with the force of small ordinance bomb. Seeing as its wrappe around the dragon's face this likely will blow it's head clean off. He forms are barrier of light using Luna' mana to protect he and Crowley from the explosion and the flames.

---

Lucien is run through and coughs up wispy shadows as he vanishes. An illusion? No, a clone made of darkness as the real Lucien never left Kari's side. Though he looked different. His skin was tinted purple like Shadow's. The same power as Alto an Creed, Aeldi and pact holder as one. He slammed his hand downward and an almost impossible to count number of shadow blades erupted from bellow the momma trodent. They were but illusions too as the real attack came from behind in the form of a shadow in Shadow's own visage aiming to stab his arm blades into the trodent's neck.

---

"FUCK" Creed swears, "Celsius come to my side and bring the wrath of winter with you, Absolute!" Creed casts in a wide arc waiting for Celsius to join in and cast Absolute by his side.

"Not at all."

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*Kari conjures up a set of wings and takes flight to avoid the tail and fires down at the monster.*

*Derek keeps silent, then slashes through the beam using one precise swipe of his hand.*

Derek: <I've had just about ENOUGH of you things!>

*He charges at it, preparing to stab it in the back of the head and ride it like he did the first time he fought one of them.*

*Crowley looks away from the blast.*

~Kentaro & Allina~

Allina: <Well, that's just ri-->

*A Restless Pride becomes visible next to them, punching Allina off of the platform and then slashing at Kentaro with its two ninjatos. Allina gasps in shock and puts her hands together, summoning a pair of angel wings before flying back towards the top of the pillar.*

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~Kari & Lucien~

*The tail slams Lucien through the mirrors for several yards. The trodent shrieks upon seing the blades emerge from the ground and starts stumbling around, not realizing they're illusions. This allows it to spot Shadow and leap back away from it while being showered with bullets. It lets out a screech and curls up in a sphere that is quickly covered in a thick layer of ice.*

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~Alto & Crowley~

*When the smoke clears the Infernal Wyvern is still hovering in the same place, its wings shielding its head and back. It spreads them, revealing severe cuts and bruises on its nose, before roaring loudly and stomping down upon Crowley. Alto suddenly feel his throat block up and stops being able to breathe. Water starts dripping from his mouth.*

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~Creed & Kelphy~

*She turns to Creed and looks from him to where Kelphy was dragged underwater.*

Celsius: <If I do that now, I might hurt Kelphy.>

*She widens her eyes as the Undead Searaptor darts out of the water biting at them. She spins on her heels and strikes its underside with a high kick, sending it flying a few yards before it falls back into the sea with a big splash. Strangle ripples appear all over the surface and they feel their bodies vibrating. The three Glacier Cobra emerge, lifeless, and Return.*

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~Derek~

*The dragon tries to shake him off and he ends up stabbing a wing, which causes the dragon to crash down with him.*

"Kelphy can handle her self Celsius" Creed grinned and blasted the Seperator with Absolute.

---

The shadow construct dissolves into wisps of darkness as black draconic wings form on Lucien's back and he too takes flight mimicking Kari. "Thing's tougher than it looks. Let's combine our attacks Kari."

---

Alto begins to choke before releasing gobs of his mana outward boiling the Nymph alive.

*Crowley jumps away from the dragon and throws a few knives at ti, which surround themselves in purple energy.*

Derek: <Shit!>

*He takes out his sword and tries to get above the dragon so he doesn't get crushed.*

*Kentaro blocks with Gale Shield then fires.*

=====================================================

"O-okay."

*Kari points her gun at the monster, a beam charging.*

Lucien begins gathering darkness into a spherical attack.

~Kentaro & Allina~

The Jade Rabbit puts his palms together and lets out a kind of war cry before jumping through the air and double kicking at the Restless Pride's eyes, which together with the shooting causes it to stumble back with a screech. Allina returns at this point, hovering behind it, and simply puts a hand on its shoulder and pulls it off of the platform. It falls into the darkness with a screech.*

Jade Rabbit: <And don't come back!>

*This is when they notice four others like it are standing on top of the surrounding platforms. The one that fell appears on top of a fifth pillar.*

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~Kari & Lucien~

*The trodent starts spinning and rockets into them.*

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~Alto & Crowley~

*They hear an annoyingly loud screech and see a mass of white vapor shooting around like a freaking ghost before it crashes into the ground in a puddle of water. The Water Nymph takes shape from it. She's looking mighty deformed and missing the arm she tried to shove down Alto's throat. The daggers bounce off of the Infernal Wyvern's scales. It swings its tail at Crowley.*

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~Creed & Kelphy~

*The Searaptor is frozen and shatters as Kelphy darts out of the water through it on top of a large dragon serpent made of water. The dragon brings its head down near Creed at high speed and Kelphy pulls him and Celsius onto its head by their hands before the dragon raises its head several yards away from the surface. She's panting, and she has a cut across her right cheek that's dripping blood down her neck.*

Kelphy: <S-Something's down there!>

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~Derek~

*The Ala Negra Returns, causing Derek to fall on his ass. Everything's silent again, but he has a weird feeling he's being watched.*

*Kentaro aims at one and a red laser fires at it.*

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*Kari fires.*

"You take care of the nymph, I'll handle the wyvern. I've taken a liking to it." Alto says as he stops the wyvern's tail swing with some more light chains. Instead of binding it though he simply makes the tail swing bounce off before staring into the wyvern's eyes with a glare of command.

---

"Good dragon. You ok Kelphy? What's down there?" Creed asks patting her back gently.

---

Lucien also fires the shadow sphere at the trodent.

*Crowley nods and heads towards the nymph, in his head thinking to himself.*

Crowley: [Maxwell... if you can hear me, do you have any advice you could give me to deal with this creature?]

Derek: <Something tells me I'm being watched...>

~Kentaro & Allina~

*It sidesteps the laser and turns invisible. The remaining four hurl a barrage of kunai at them, which Allina stops with a dome barrier. The one that had turned invisible reappears behind Kentaro and slashes at his throat with a kunai.*

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~Kari & Lucien~

*The beam and sphere blast a large clean hole through the monster, but it still rams them like a giant cannon ball before falling to the ground and Returning.*

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~Alto & Crowley~

*The dragon widens its eyes in surprise before glaring back at Alto with the same expression of command.*

[Maxwell: <Yes, yes I do. You know that handy Monsterpedia you all have access to? Read it. Over and out.>]

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~Creed & Kelphy~

Kelphy: <I don't know, but--l-look!>

*Someone's head emerges. He smiles, shakes the water of his hair, and then climbs onto the water's surface. He's a short young man with bronze skin, messy black hair, yellow eyes and long elven ears except longer and more crooked than those of the typical elf. He's thin, but muscular, wearing nothing but golden bracers and a long red kilt with yellow details. He grins to them, spinning a small blood-tainted knife on the tip of his right index finger.*

???: <Hello there!>

Kelphy: <Is he a monster... or an elf?>

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~Derek~

???: <Wooohoooo, Your Highness!>

*He spots someone atop one of the tall black rock formations. She's an elegant young woman with waist-lenght pink hair, eyes of the same color, bronze skin, and long elven ears except longer and more crooked than those of the typical elf. She's wearing a black short tube top and matching shorts and sandals.*

Derek: <Um... have we met?>

*He looks genuinely confused.*