《Hellion》


 Chapter 1

    In the beginning there was a war between humans and demons. In this war, the humans were getting overpowered by the demons, as the demons were led by a terrifying king named, ¡°Azrael¡±. Eventually though, humans finally got an upper-hand and managed to weaken Azrael, but only enough to make him retreat into hiding. Since that war, Azrael stayed in hiding as humans built settlement towns to defend against the demon army that still roamed the lands. Now, our story takes place at Ground Zero of the Human vs Demon War, several years later...


    A man with light skin, long white hair, a white tanktop and red shorts, runs through an abandoned city scape and steps on a skull along the way. ¡°Come on, come back here!¡±, he shouts as he chases a rat down a street way. ¡°I¡¯m so hungry!"


    The man, while chasing the rat, then slides under a broken down archway, slides inbetween two buildings, and then he eventually corners the rat at the end of an alleyway. ¡°Nowhere to run now!¡±, the man shouts. The rat then climbs up a high pile of rocks nearby, then sticks out its tongue at the man.


    ¡°Get down here, you bastard!¡±, the man shouts. He then grabs a pile of rocks in his arms and begins throwing rocks, one-at-a-time, at the rat, but he keeps missing the shots, as the rat sticks out its tongue again.


    The man then begins to sprout red horns from his head and starts addressing toward the rat again, in a more anger-ful manner. ¡°I saaaid... Come down here!!¡±.


    Without noticing, the rat looks and sees the man tossed a giant boulder at it. And the rat screeches in horror.


    Cut to nighttime, the man is now happily sitting as he has the rat on a stick, roasting it over a fire, while inside an empty building. The man then bites off a piece of the now roasted rat. ¡°Yum!¡±, he says, with joy. ¡°This is great! You want some Rocko?¡±. The man then turns his gaze to a rock medium-large sized, that sits across from him, on the other side of the fire, as the rock has a smiley face carved into it. Of course, the rock doesn¡¯t respond back to the man¡¯s question.


    ¡°Suit yourself.¡±, the man says, right before taking another bite out of the rat. With enough time passed of eating, the man finally finishes his meals and then leans back. ¡°Damn, I haven¡¯t had a meal that good in days.¡±, the man says before burping.


    The man then proceeds to turn to the rock and hold a conversation with it, while speaking for the rock.


    The Man: So how has things been while I¡¯ve been gone.


    Rocko (The Man speaking): Great so far. No one tried to ransack us while you¡¯ve been gone.


    The Man: Nice. Nice. And how are you doing, Rocko?


    Rocko (The Man speaking): You know me, can¡¯t move, but I can¡¯t complain.


    The Man: That¡¯s good. Well maybe one day I¡¯ll take you out for a stroll again. You¡¯ve been cocked up in here for a while. How¡¯s that sound?


    Rock (The Man speaking): I¡¯d like that.


    The Man: Then that settles it, I¡¯ll take you out tomorrow.


    The man then just stares at the ceiling, lays on his back and there¡¯s a still quietness as he frowns. The man then ends his conversation.


    The Man: Well I¡¯m gonna get some rest. Getting tired. Goodnight Rocko.


    Rocko (The Man speaking): Goodnight Saige.


    The Man says for the rock, stating goodnight to himself, while stating his own name, ¡°Saige¡±.


    Saige then has a dream that starts with him as a child surrounded by adults. The adults that surround him all have angerful looks on their faces, while holding torches, as Saige has his red horns grown from his head and a red demon tail out. ¡°Get out, you¡¯re not wanted here!¡±, one adult says. ¡°Demon!¡±, another adult shouts. Saige then beacons back, ¡°No I¡¯m not!¡±, but still another adult shouts, ¡°Get out of here! Out!¡±. A child then chimes in, ¡°Ahh, he¡¯s going to kill us!¡±. ¡°Like you did your mother!¡±, another adult exclaims. They then come in closer toward Saige, flailing their torches.


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    In the next moment, Saige wakes up, sitting up in a panic. While breathing heavy he then feels his face, and with surprise, he can feel that tears are streaming down. ¡°*Sigh* Damnit, another nightmare.¡±, Saige states.


    Rocko (Saige speaking): A nightmare, wanna talk about it?


    Saige: No.


    Saige says in a quick chit-chat with Rocko. Saige then walks outside to catch his breath. ¡°It¡¯s just a dream.. You¡¯re safe now.. It¡¯s just a dream.¡±, Saige says, as he tries to calm himself down. Suddenly, ¡°HELP!!!¡±, a cry is heard as Saige looks up to the sky, where the shout came from. He then sees flying demon birds. The demon birds look almost ostrich-like, but they¡¯re dark blue, and have short black horns. With these demon birds, a woman with dark skin, orange clothes and short purple hair is being held by the pack leader, in its talons. ¡°Flying demons. And... a girl¡¯s with them? Looks like she needs help.¡±, Saige states.


    Meanwhile in the air with the woman. ¡°HELP!¡±, she screams again. The flying demon pack leader then responds, ¡°No one¡¯s rescuing you so shutup alrea- !!¡±, it¡¯s then hit with a boulder the size of a mini-van, just grazing past the woman.


    Meanwhile, back with Saige, ¡°Yes, I got it! Uh oh. She¡¯s falling.¡±, Saige says. ¡°AAHHH!!!¡±, the woman shouts. ¡°I got you!¡±, Saige tries to shout over to her. He then begins to run as fast as he can over to the woman¡¯s location, before she hits the ground. As he does so, red horns spout from his head again, while a red demon tail spouts from his backside. He then increases in amazing speed, then launches himself from the ground, hitting a business building and bouncing off of it to hit another business building across the way, shattering window glass from his impacts, as he goes. He then, while launching himself from building-to-building, then catches the woman in air, and the two of them go hurling through a large window into a business building, while appearing to end up in a call office area.


    Saige¡¯s feet scrape across the floor, as he holds the woman tight, then they stop screeching forward. ¡°Got you.¡±, Saige says. He then looks down at the woman in his arms, examining her more closely, than he could when seeing her from a distance. He sees that she is a dark-skinned woman with purple hair, but also sees she¡¯s wearing white leggings, orange shorts and an orange button-up T-shirt, as she wears brown boots and her hair is done up in a ponytail. Saige, then noticing what he¡¯s doing gets embarrassed and blushes, as this is the first time he¡¯s held a woman before, let alone seen a woman in months.


    ¡°Uhhh...¡±, Saige says while blushing. The woman then opens her eyes and the first thing she notices is his horns. ¡°AHH! DEMON!¡±, She yells, right before hitting him in the side of the face with a bat. And this catches Saige so off-guard, that he¡¯s sent flying into a wall and makes a small dent into the wall from his impact. The woman then takes a defensive stance with her bat.


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL!?¡±, Saige yells in response. She says nothing back. Saige then continues to respond, ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m gonna eat you or something! And I¡¯m not a demon!¡±. The woman then responds, ¡°But the horns. You can¡¯t trick me!¡±. ¡°Screw you!¡±, Saige shouts.


    Suddenly flying demons come in through the large window near them. One of them then gets center-front, infront of the rest and begins talking, ¡°Caaaw!! You killed our leader! We saw you throw that boulder!¡±.


    The woman turns her head back to Saige in response, ¡°Wait, that was you!?¡±, she says. ¡°Yea huh! You¡¯re welcome by the way!¡±, Saige responds.¡±. ¡°You almost hit me you idiot!¡±, the woman retorts.¡±. ¡°You¡¯re still welcome, by the way!¡±, Saige says back.


    A flying demon then chimes in, ¡°Enough of this talk! Let¡¯s just kill them!¡±. ¡°And here I thought they¡¯d wanna keep me alive for info.¡±, the woman says¡±. Suddenly, the demon birds then go to surround the woman. Saige then quickly comes over and slashes one¡¯s head off with grown out claws, then kicks back another and lands on the floor, all in front of the woman¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Wait, are you helping me?¡±, the woman asks in confusion. Saige retorts, ¡°Let¡¯s just say you didn¡¯t hit me hard enough.. ''yet'' for me to consider abandoning you. So you want my help or not?¡±. The two of them now begin to get surrounded by the other flying demons, as Saige and the woman go back-to-back. ¡°Sure.¡±, the woman responds. ¡°Sorry for hitting you by the way. The name¡¯s Mai.¡± She says. ¡°Cool. I¡¯m Saige.¡±, Saige responds. The flying demons then move in.


    Saige slashes off the wings on one and steps on its head. Mai moves under a pecking strike and bashes a flying demon¡¯s head in with her bat. Saige kicks back one, punches another, and kicks another. Mai then transforms her bat into a spear and jolts forward, stabbing one in the chest and then another one. ¡°How¡¯d you...?¡±, Saige¡¯s about to ask. ¡°It¡¯s special tech.¡±, Mai states. She then kicks one flying demon back and stabs it in the chest. It falls over and dies. Eventually, after enough fighting, dead bodies just litter the ground.


    ¡°We did it.¡±, Mai says. ¡°Hell yeah we did.¡±, Saige responds. Saige¡¯s horns, tail and claws then shrink down and disappear. ¡°Huh, interesting. Your demon.. limbs can grow and shrink?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah, but only if I get mad or feel intense, they grow. They shrink when I calm down. Also, your bat... thingie.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Yup, like I said, it transforms into more than just a bat.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Nice. WAIT!¡±, Saige states right before inspecting the bodies. He then chews on the wing of one of them. ¡°Eww, what are you...?¡±, Mai says, right before getting cut off by Saige. ¡°They may be demons, but they¡¯re still giant birds! We eating good tonight!¡±. Saige states, as he sticks his fist in the air.


    Cut to nighttime, Mai and Saige sit around Saige¡¯s campfire, as Saige eats a big partially roasted demon wing. A conversation then happens among them, ¡°Sorry, you want some?¡±, Saige asks. ¡°Thanks, but I¡¯ll pass. So how long have you been living out here?¡±, Mai responds. ¡°Been awhile. Maybe a couple of months. I use to live in a settlement, but... they kicked me out, cause of my.. demon limbs.¡±, Saige answers. ¡°That¡¯s awful.¡±, Mai states. ¡°Yeah.¡±, Saige responds.


    A moment of quietness then goes over them as Mai then focuses her gaze even more on Saige. ¡°You know, you have some amazing strength. We could use that at my settlement.¡±, Mai states. ¡°Uhh.. not sure. People don¡¯t usually want me around.¡±, Saige retorts. ¡°Well I did. You don¡¯t seem that bad.¡± Mai retorts back. ¡°...Thanks.¡± Saige responds.


    A moment of silence goes by again. Mai then breaks the silence, ¡°It¡¯s just.. you see, my settlement is secretly trying to find and take out Azrael. You¡¯ve heard of him, right?¡± Saige then responds, ¡°Yeah. The one responsible for bringing a demon and human war to humanity. The one behind the reason we live in settlements now.¡±. ¡°See... what¡¯s your stance on demons?¡±, Mai asks. ¡°Not on their side, as you can see.¡±, Saige states. ¡°Well then why don¡¯t you join my settlement?¡±, Mai pushes. ¡°Are you kidding me. Sounds like a bunch of demon hunters and me with my horns...¡±, Saige states, right before getting cut off. ¡°I¡¯ll explain to my people for you and protect you. If anyone has a problem with you I¡¯ll have your back.¡± Mai says. Saige then blushes abit in response. ¡°Well erm, if you put it that way... might as well.¡± Saige says. ¡°Nice. Welcome to the team!¡±, Mai says, right before extending her arm to shake. Saige then shakes.


    Cut to morning, Mai walks forward out of the building and looks behind her. She then shouts back. ¡°Saige, you almost ready!?¡±. ¡°Hold on!¡±, Saige retorts. Saige¡¯s back in the building bending down to Rocko, while talking to him. ¡°You¡¯re in charge now Rocko. Take good care of things while I¡¯m gone.¡±. Saige then exits the building and meets up with Mai. ¡°Alright, ready.¡±, Saige says. ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡±, Mai says back. ¡°Right¡±, Saige responds. They then begin heading out of the city.

 Chapter 2

    There¡¯s ants walking in packed lines within a dark place. Suddenly, the ceiling of the dark place is lifted to reveal it was ants hiding under a log, and that Saige has uncovered them.


    ¡°Can¡¯t hide from me. Stomp.¡±, Saige says as he stomps on them. Mai, going down a dirt pathway, infront of Saige, then turns back to confront Saige. ¡°What are you doing?¡±, Mai says. ¡°Inserting my dominance.¡±, Saige states. ¡°Leave them alone already, they¡¯re just ants.¡±, Mai says. Saige then retorts, ¡°Eh, I hate ants. Stomp.¡±, and he proceeds to stomp on the ants again.


    After that hold up, Saige and Mai continue to walk down the dirt pathway, as Saige has his arms behind his head. ¡°So it¡¯s going to be quite a walk before we get to my settlement.¡±, Mai says. ¡°I can walk. Hey what''s the name of your settlement, by the way?¡±, Saige asks. ¡°Strife Village. What about yours?¡±, Mai asks back. ¡°Hm? Doesn¡¯t really have a name.¡±, ¡°Really, the people never named it?¡±, Mai questions. ¡°The people? The hell are you talking about?¡±, Saige asks in confusion. ¡°You know, the settlement you were born in.¡±, Mai states.


    ¡°Oh that one. Who cares.¡±, Saige responds. ¡°What do you mean who cares??¡±, Mai asks in abit of a concerning and angered tone. Saige responds, ¡°I already said good riddance to it. They kicked me out for being a demo- assuming I¡¯m a demon.¡±, ¡°Really, what about your parents? Don¡¯t they care about you?¡±, Mai simply asks.


    Saige has a brief pause before answering. ¡°Forget about my parents. Hey what''s with you and asking questions?¡± Saige responds, in pouty tone. ¡°Sooorry. Excuse me if I wanted to know more about the person I¡¯d be travelling with. Plus, it passes the time.¡±, Mai answers.


    Suddenly, catching the two off-guard, stormy grey clouds fill up the sky and a thunderous roar bursts from the clouds.


    ¡°Oh don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s gonna rain.¡±, Mai says. ¡°What¡¯s a little rain gonna do?¡±, Saige says, mockingly. The clouds then start dripping abit. ¡°Come on, I don¡¯t wanna get wet. Let¡¯s get under somewhere we can stay dry.¡±, Mai says as she looks around with worry. ¡°Like that tree over there.¡±, Mai states, before pointing over to a large tree and then heading under it.


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    ¡°Seriously, you don¡¯t wanna walk in the rain? It¡¯s just a little drizzle.¡±, Saige says, in a mocking manor. Suddenly there¡¯s more thunderous booms and it rains abit harder. As this happens, Saige¡¯s hair gets all soaked over. Saige has a brief pause before speaking, ¡°Ah, you can still handle it.¡±. ¡°Even with the lightning?¡±, Mai retorts. The sky crackles with even more thunderous booming. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll get under the stupid tree.¡±, Saige says in defeat.


    Now the two sit under the tree and it¡¯s quiet for abit, as the two just hear rapid pitter-patter of rain. Mai then breaks the silence, ¡°Sooo...¡±. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re gonna ask more questions about where I came from.¡±, Saige says in a grumpy manor. ¡°Well sorry if I¡¯m curious now.¡±, Mai teases. ¡°Maybe respect my privacy.¡± Saige says. ¡°Really, you¡¯re gonna pull that now?¡±, Mai says, before suddenly laying down on her back.


    Mai then let¡¯s out a long sigh and has a brief pause before speaking again, ¡°Fine. What if I tell you about my history?¡±. ¡°I already know you¡¯re apart of a group that wants to slay Azrael.¡±, Saige states. ¡°There¡¯s more to it than that!¡±, Mai states back, in a bit of an annoyed tone, before continuing to talk. ¡°Like... My parents.¡± ¡°Huh.¡±, Saige says. ¡°Did you know they died in the war of humans and demons?¡±, Mai states in a gloomy way.


    Saige¡¯s about to talk, but pauses as if he¡¯s choosing his words. ¡°I see. Well we have that incommon.¡±, Saige states. ¡°Your parents also died in the war?¡±, Mai asks. ¡°My dad did, my mom, well.. died by me.¡± Saige states. ¡°Oh, wait WHAT?¡±, Mai says in a concerned manor, while sitting back up. ¡°During childbirth, lay back down.¡±, Saige says to her. ¡°Oh.¡±, Mai says before laying back down. ¡°She couldn¡¯t handle the special child I was, so she died giving birth to me.¡±, Saige says, with abit of sarcasm in his speech, when stating that he was a, ¡°special child¡±. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡±, Mai says.


    ¡°Yeah, and cause of that, I was raised in a shitty orphanage in a shitty town of shitty people.¡± Saige states with outward anger. Mai, seeing that Saige seems vulnerable to reveal more information on himself, then proceeds to ask another question, to see if he would respond. ¡°So what was the name of your settlement?¡±, ¡°Creed Town.¡±, Saige responds. ¡°Creed Town? I know that place.¡± Mai says. ¡°Yeah?¡±, Saige asks. ¡°Strife Village gets supplies from them from time to... time.¡± Mai says, right before ending her speech, believing her speaking more may upset Saige.


    The two then continue resting down in silence for abit, until Mai cuts the silence. ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t mean to piss you off, will you still travel with me?¡±, ¡°Course. Already came this far with you.¡±, Saige responds. Mai then smiles to the response and eventually the sun comes out as the clouds stop raining. ¡°Looks like the rain is gone.¡±, Mai states. ¡°Well let¡¯s get going.¡±, Saige says. ¡°Okay!¡±, Mai says with joy. The two then get up and continue on their way down the dirt pathway.

 Chapter 3

    Mai runs through a forest from a demon-bear, who is twice the size of a grizzly bear and sporting short black horns. ¡°Okay, Saige I¡¯m coming!¡±, Mai shouts ahead of herself.


    Suddenly, Saige bursts out of a bush and punches the demon-bear in the gut, and the demon-bear wrenches in pain. It then backs up, standing on two legs, feeling it¡¯s chest while growing in anger. It then looks at the two with a vicious stare, and gets back on all fours, charges over and bashes Saige away with it¡¯s head. Saige, after flying into a bush and getting abit tangled up then talks, ¡°Hey, he¡¯s strong! I mean real strong!¡±. ¡°Gah! What do we do!?¡± Mai asks in concern. ¡°Stop holding back.¡±, Saige states with a smirk.


    Mai then transforms her bat into a mace, swerves around the demon-bear while swirling around the mace, then hits the demon-bear in the back of the head. The demon-bear shakes it¡¯s head around, then goes to swipe at Mai, but Mai dodges backward in time.


    ¡°Leave it to me!! HAAAAA!!¡±, Saige yells as he runs up with a third of a meter long extended demon claws and stabs the demon-bear underneath in the chest, in an uppercut fashion. Saige then forces his hand even more in and guts bursts out the back of the demon-bear. The blood then splatters on Mai.


    ¡°Gotchya, ya bastard!¡±, Saige says as he pulls back out his claws and allows the demon-bear¡¯s body to drop to the ground, lifeless. ¡°Ew, you got guts all over my clothes.¡±, Mai says in disgust. Saige¡¯s demon parts shrink back down as he turns back to Mai to talk to her, ¡°No big deal, we just gotta find a river.¡±, ¡°Do you see a river in sight!?¡±, Mai says angrily. Saige responds, ¡°Well.. no, but...¡±, ¡°Gah.¡±, Mai says in annoyance.


    They then continue to walk anyway, as Mai¡¯s clothes are still soaked in blood. In eventuality, Saige then speaks, ¡°Wait a second, I hear a river nearby.¡±. Saige then runs in the direction he hears running water. ¡°Saige, wait, hold on!¡±, Mai says, as she tries to follow behind him in a jog. They head part-way into forestry, and then come out of bushes on the other side, as they reach a clearing with log cabins in it.


    ¡°Hey, a settlement?¡±, Mai wonders. ¡°Is this Strife Village?¡±, Saige asks. ¡°I wish, but it¡¯s a place to rest at, probably.¡±, Mai responds. They then suddenly hear a voice in the distance. ¡°Stop right there!¡±, the voice shouts. Mai and Saige, to follow where the voice came from, then jog up to hide behind one of the log cabins, while peeking out and seeing what¡¯s happening.


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    They see a person standing in blue and black armour, with a blue and black helmet on, with a visor, while they wear a black cape. The person stands across from three bandits, as the middle bandit is holding a large sack of stuff. ¡°You again.¡±, The lead bandit holding the sack says. The armoured stranger then begins to talk in a low-tone voice, ¡°Yes it is I, the great Blue Phoenix!¡±. The stranger known as, ¡°The Blue Phoenix¡±, then poses by looking toward the side and putting hands on their hips. ¡°And you will give up what you have stolen!¡±, Blue Phoenix says in a heroic bellowing voice, while pointing at them.


    An old woman nearby then chimes in, ¡°It¡¯s alright, let them leave, you can¡¯t handle them.¡±. With more notice, Mai and Saige see the villagers all outside and watching the confrontation take place, from the sidelines.


    Blue Phoenix then proceeds to take out a gun. ¡°But with my trusty blaster, I can.¡±, Blue Phoenix responds. ¡°Oh they have a gun this time!?¡±, The lead bandit says in shock. ¡°Where¡¯d they get that gun?¡±, an old man villager ponders. ¡°Pew pew pew!¡±, Blue Phoenix says as they shoot up the place where the bandits are standing, with flashy rounds. ¡°Brrrr! A brrrr!!!¡±, Blue Phoenix says as they shoot more. The shots are so flashy that it temporarily blinds everyone who¡¯s watching. Finally, when the blindness goes away, everyone sees that the bandits are actually perfectly fine and Blue Phoenix missed every shot.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry...¡±, Mai says ¡°What?¡±, Mai and Saige say in unison. The lead bandit then starts speaking, ¡°Ha ha, none of the shots hit!¡±. The second bandit then chimes in, ¡°looks like it.¡±, ¡°But you¡¯re in deep trouble now¡±, the lead bandit says. The lead bandit then walks up to Blue Phoenix, as Blue Phoenix trembles. The lead bandit then picks up Blue Phoenix by the collar and throws off the helmet, revealing a woman with short black hair underneath.


    ¡°It¡¯s.. a girl?¡±, Saige states, questioningly. ¡°Huh.¡±, Mai says. ¡°Ready to get beat again?¡±, the lead bandit says. The villagers then close their eyes. ¡°Alright, time we step in.¡±, Saige says. Saige then walks out of cover and introduces himself in a heroic voice, ¡°It is I! The White Talon!¡±, Saige then poses with his legs apart, one hand outward, and the other hand lifted up behind his head. ¡°What the...??¡±, the lead bandit says, quizzically. Mai then comes out of cover and punches Saige in the back of the head. ¡°Hey!¡±, Saige says. ¡°Take this seriously. Anyway, we¡¯re here to beat you up.¡±, Mai says.


    The third bandit then chimes in, ¡°Oh, they think they can take us on?¡±. ¡°Stay out of this, it¡¯s 3 to 2, anyway.¡±, The lead bandit says. Mai then quickly runs up, with her bat and bats the second bandit in the head, knocking him out cold, as Saige runs up and uppercuts the third bandit in the chin, knocking him out as well. ¡°Gah! What!?¡±, the lead bandit says in surprise. ¡°You were saying?¡±, Mai says. ¡°Now it¡¯s 2 on 1. Now let Blue Phoenix go!¡±, Saige says, as he cracks his knuckles. The lead bandit lets go of Blue Phoenix. ¡°And handover that sack you have there.¡±, Mai says to him, intimidatingly. ¡°Nice try, but I won¡¯t...¡±, the lead bandit begins to say, right before being punched in the gut by Saige. The lead bandit then falls over, dropping the sack, as Saige picks it up. ¡°Now scram.¡±, Saige says in an intimidating fashion.


    The lead bandit picks up the second and third bandits over his shoulders, and runs away with them saying, ¡°We¡¯ll be back¡±.


    The crowd of villagers then stay still, as they look at Mai and Saige. Saige then drops the sack. ¡°Here, have all your stuff back.¡±, Saige says. The crowd then cheers and heads on over, as Blue Phoenix looks at Mai and Saige with inspired eyes.

 Chapter 4

    It¡¯s evening time in the log cabin town. Inside one of the log cabins, Saige lays back in a bathtub filled with warm water, with a big smile on his face. ¡°Warm water! Nice!! Ha ha!¡±, Saige says out loud.


    Meanwhile, from outside the bathroom, Mai, in a wrapped towel, sits on a bed with the woman known as, ¡°Blue Phoenix¡±, who is wearing a casual blue sweater and black jogging pants now, while they¡¯re with an older woman, wearing a green dress, with an apron.


    ¡°Sorry for his loudness.¡±, Mai says. The older woman then answers back, ¡°That¡¯s quite alright. This is the least we can do after you saved our village and my daughter, ¡°Kelsey¡±.¡±. ¡°No problem for us. So your name¡¯s Kelsey, not Blue Phoenix?¡±, Mai says while smiling tauntingly. ¡°Kelsey is my secret identity. Blue Phoenix is my hero role! Only a select few know about it, but I¡¯m willing to give up my secret identity for fellow heroes.¡±, Kelsey states.


    ¡°Fellow heroes?¡±, Mai ponders. ¡°Yeah, like White Talon in there.¡±, Kelsey says. Mai then sighs and answers with, ¡°Right.¡±. ¡°Although, it¡¯s weird he didn¡¯t have a costume.¡±, Kelsey says, as Mai looks back at her with a questioning expression, wondering why it would be weird to ¡®not¡¯ have a costume on. ¡°Listen, that¡¯s not White Talon. I¡¯m Mai and his name is Saige.¡±, Mai states.


    ¡°Are you two dating?¡±, Kelsey asks. ¡°W-What? Never. Not in a million years.¡±, Mai states while blushing suddenly. ¡°So why are you two traveling alone together?¡±, Kelsey asks. ¡°It¡¯s kind of a long story.. or not, but let¡¯s just say he helped me out of a jam, agreed to join my cause and now we¡¯re traveling back to my settlement.¡±, Mai responds. ¡°Oh.¡±, Kelsey says with a surprise expression.


    Kelsey¡¯s mom then comes in with a question, ¡°Don¡¯t mind me asking, but how old are you two? Just seems dangerous to travel in a pack of two only.¡±, ¡°Trust me, we can handle ourselves. Also, don¡¯t worry I¡¯m 20 and Saige is... actually... Hey Saige, how old are you!?¡±, Mai says. ¡°I was 19 some months ago! I think.. 20 now!?¡±, Saige responds from behind the door. ¡°Oh wow, we¡¯re the same age??¡±, Mai says.


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    ¡°I¡¯m 18.¡±, Kelsey also answers back. ¡°Oh so you are old enough to fight.¡±, Mai states. ¡°Yes I am, ma¡¯am.¡±, Kelsey answers back. ¡°But that didn¡¯t seem like fighting. How long have bandits been coming to your settlement?¡±, Mai states and questions. Kelsey puts her head down. Kelsey¡¯s mom then answers for Kelsey, ¡°Just over a year now. It use to be a large crowd, until it lowered down to just three bandits. The first time they came to our town, we got overpowered by them. Now we¡¯ve just accepted them routinely visiting the town to take from us.¡±, ¡°That¡¯s awful.¡±, Mai states.


    Kelsey¡¯s mom continues, ¡°Yes. They just come in and take some food from each of us then leave. We consider it like a payment for them to leave us alone, but some months back, my daughter decided to stand up to them. She came up each time they showed up, to try to take them down, but she always managed to get badly beaten up. I couldn¡¯t do anything for the longest time, but watch. But now that you¡¯ve come here, my daughter had a better fighting chance and didn¡¯t have to risk her life.¡± Kelsey¡¯s mom then begins to tear up.


    Mai listened well to the story, as Saige has listened in too, as he now sits with a slight angered expression, soaking in the bathroom tub. ¡°This is the kind of thing you have to consider Kelsey, you¡¯re making your mom worry.¡±, Mai says. ¡°But I wanna be like my dad.¡±, Kelsey states. ¡°Huh?¡±, Mai questions.


    ¡°He was fearless and use to serve in the war of humans versus demons.. until.. he died during battle. But ever since then I¡¯ve dawned his armour to try to make him proud!¡±, Kelsey says in an inspired way. Saige then finally steps out of the bathroom, but without a towel on. ¡°Listen, you can¡¯t just face these things without any experience in fighting. Leave the bandits to us! We¡¯ll take em on.¡±, Saige says, with a courageous demeanor.


    Mai, Kelsey and Kelsey¡¯s mom just look onward in embarrassment for Saige. ¡°What?¡±, Saige asks, right before looking down. ¡°Oh forgot a towel¡±, Saige states while answering his own question. ¡°Cover up you pervert!¡±, Mai shouts at him, while going to punch Saige in the head. ¡°Alright! ALRIGHT! DON¡¯T HIT ME!¡±, Saige bellows while dodging the hit.


    It¡¯s now the next day, and Saige and Mai are inside the house, as Saige now has on a new white T-shirt, red shorts and black shoes. Meanwhile, Mai has on an orange T-shirt, tan cargo pants and her brown boots. ¡°Hope this helps you both. My daughter and late husband¡¯s clothes seem to suit you well. They should help cover you until your clothes dry on the line.¡±, Kelsey¡¯s mom, says. ¡°Thank you so much.¡± Mai answers back. ¡°Yeah, thanks. Hey can I keep this?¡±, Saige says while looking down at the T-shirt. ¡°Sure¡±, Kelsey¡¯s mom says.


    ¡°And I will come along to lead the way to the bandits! Should be right near Airy Town.¡±, Kelsey says, while dawning on her armour. ¡°Airy Town?¡±, Mai responds. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the name of our settlement.¡±, Kelsey answers. The three then step outside the house. ¡°Becareful now, and Kelsey, you return home right away after you finish leading them.¡±, Kelsey¡¯s mom says. ¡°Sure mom. Let¡¯s go.¡±, Kelsey says. The three then head off.

 Chapter 5

    It starts off with the three bandits bowing, inside a cave, with torches on the walls. They bow toward the end of the cave, where a tall shadowy figure with red eyes stands. The lead bandit just finishes his summary of events on what happened in Airy Town. ¡°...And that¡¯s what happened.¡±, the lead bandit says.


    The tall shadow then goes to speak, and it speaks in a low-tone voice, ¡°Hm. A ¡°White Talon¡±.¡±. ¡°He was real big and strong¡±, the lead bandit says. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter! You will keep going back there.¡±, the tall shadow says. ¡°We plan to boss.¡±, the lead bandit says. ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me!! Now I¡¯m hungry!!¡±, the shadow shouts. The second bandit chimes in, ¡°Please don¡¯t eat us boss.¡±. ¡°I won¡¯t. Of course not.¡±, the shadow says as the bandits smile with relief. ¡°But bring me results like this again and I¡¯ll consider it!¡±, the shadow says, as the bandits react in a scared manor. ¡°Now... how to deal with this White Talon.¡±, The shadow ponders.


    Meanwhile, as that talk takes place, Kelsey, Mai and Saige show up standing just a few meters away from the front of the bandits¡¯ cave. The front of the cave appears to be unguarded. ¡°How¡¯d you even know the location of this place?¡±, Mai asks, Kelsey. ¡°I scouted it out when I was smaller, but that was before bandits moved into it. I just had a hunch that this was where they would escape to.¡±, Kelsey answers. ¡°Let¡¯s see if your hunch was correct.¡±, Saige responds. ¡°Let¡¯s do battle.¡±, Kelsey says with a determined tone of voice. ¡°Hooold on, you said to your mom that you would go home after you led us.¡±, Mai states.


    ¡°I lieeed.¡±, Kelsey says. ¡°Underhanded.¡±, Saige responds. Kelsey then retorts to Mai, saying, ¡°And you can¡¯t make me retreat back.¡±. ¡°Fine, you can come in, but you better not get in our way.¡±, Mai says with a defeated tone. Kelsey smiles. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s take out this bandit camp.¡±, Mai says, with a determined look.


    Mai, Saige and Kelsey walk up to the cave and go inside. They walk for a bit inside the cave, then get confronted by the three bandits again. ¡°It¡¯s you three again.¡±, the lead bandit says. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you found us, but you came to the wrong territory.¡±, the second bandit states. ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡±, Mai retorts.


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    The bandits snicker, then the lead bandit takes out a sledgehammer on fire, the second bandit takes out a bat on fire and the third bandit takes out a sword on fire. ¡°What the heck?¡±, Mai says in surprise. ¡°What¡¯s going on with their weapons?¡±, Saige asks. ¡°It¡¯s demon magic. But how?¡±, Mai responds. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter! Attack!¡±, the lead bandit says right before having himself and the other two bandits jump in to fight.


    The lead bandit swings his sledgehammer high and goes to slam on Saige¡¯s head, but Saige dodges the blow as the hammer hits the ground and makes a small crator. ¡°How the hell did he do that!?¡±, Saige exclaims. Mai chimes in, ¡°It¡¯s demon magic. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s enhancing their strength. As long as they¡¯re holding onto those weapons.¡± Mai then dodges


    Mai dodges a few sword slash blows and gets, but gets cut on the arm and winces in pain. Kelsey tries shooting, but can¡¯t land a shot and gets batted by a bat, which sends her flying into a stalagmite. This also synches Kelsey¡¯s suit abit. As Kelsey¡¯s recovering, Mai then runs over, grabs Kelsey¡¯s blaster and blasts it, hitting the second bandit a few times in the chest, before he goes down. ¡°No!¡±, the lead bandit yells. ¡°I¡¯ll make smushed meat out of you!¡±, the lead bandit says, right before charging in to hit Mai.


    Saige then grows his horns and grabs the lead bandit¡¯s arm in time, halting the bandit in place. ¡°What!?¡±, The lead bandit says in shock from Saige¡¯s appearance. ¡°The White Talon is.. a-a-demon!?¡±, the third bandit yells. ¡°Not a demon¡±, Saige says. ¡°Whoa whoa whoa whoa!¡±, the lead bandit says, still with shock, and in fear. Kelsey looks at Saige and notices too, and has a surprised expression on her face.


    Saige then grabs the lead bandit by the back of the head and tosses him into the face of the third bandit, which knocks the two out. ¡°So this whole time you were a demon?¡±, Kelsey asks. Saige turns toward her with a stern expression. Saige, ¡°Not exactly a demon, but.. sigh, yeah, this is who I am¡±. There¡¯s a brief pause before Kelsey starts speaking again, ¡°That¡¯s so cool!¡±. Huh?


    Suddenly they get surrounded by many more bandits. The team of three then go back-to-back. ¡°Get ready to fight.. again.¡±, Mai warns. ¡°A demon, huh?¡±, a voice from the darkness says near the end of the cave. The figure then comes out of the darkness skin, with red skin, a pot belly, a pig nose, black beady eyes, big horns, and tattered brown shorts, while standing at 5 meters tall. Kelsey, Saige and Mai just look up at him. The giant demon then says, ¡°Well why don¡¯t you test that strength against me! The ex-demon general Gallagar!¡±

 Chapter 6

    ¡°Well why don¡¯t you test that strength against me! The ex-demon general Gallagar!¡±, the giant demon says in a booming voice. ¡°Oh no.¡±, Mai responds. ¡°Ex-demon general?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Now we¡¯re screwed.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Why you say that?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Do you not know the strength of Demon Generals? It¡¯s said they can level entire towns.¡±, states Mai. ¡°That strong, huh?¡±, questions Saige, as he looks up at Gallagar with a determined look on his face. ¡°Oh yes. Now you won¡¯t escape this cave alive. Everyone stand down! Leave these three to me.¡± Gallagar tells the lot. Saige swings around his arm in circles to stretch it. ¡°Then bring i-¡±, right before Saige could finish his sentence, Gallagar swings around a punch as Saige is caught off-guard, and sends Saige flying into the cave wall, leaving a small crator. Saige then falls down from the crator and ends up unconscious.


    Mai just looks over to Saige in surprise. And shouts, ¡°Saige!¡±, but no response comes from him. ¡°Bwahaha! For a demon, that¡¯s the sorriest excuse of a fight I have ever seen!¡±, Gallagar taunts. Gallagar now looks at Kelsey and Mai, and stomps the ground, sending them up in the air and down again. Kelsey and Mai then try quickly running away. Mai, while still holding Kelsey¡¯s gun shoots shots at Gallagar, but he then just blocks the shots with his hand. Gallagar then just slowly walks forward, while stomping each time he takes a step. Kelsey and Mai clumsily try to run while being bounced into the air. Mai continues to shoot, but Gallagar keeps easily blocking the shots. ¡°Those puny shots won¡¯t work on me.¡±, says Gallagar. Kelsey and Mai then hide behind a stalagmite.


    ¡°Listen, Kelsey, we have to retreat, somehow. We¡¯ll take Saige and run.¡±, says Mai. ¡°The-The-The great Blue Phoenix can¡¯t run from battle.. no matter how big the foe.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Are you shaking?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°N-No.¡±, responds Kelsey. Kelsey then swipes her gun back from Mai and runs into battle. She then goes and stands on a slanted rock, using it like a stage to speak. ¡°L-Listen here, ex-demon general, Gallagar! I am the m-mighty Blue Phoenix, and I say your rain of terror ends here!¡±, Kelsey says as she poses with her legs apart, one hand outward, and the other hand behind her head. ¡°You have ravaged Airy Town long enough and we have come to stop you!¡± Kelsey exclaims, right before shooting multiple shots at Gallagar that actually hit him, although they don¡¯t do damage.


    ¡°Oh my god, they actually hit him. He must be too big of a target to miss.¡±, says Mai in surprise of Kelsey¡¯s accuracy this time. Gallagar goes to punch down on Kelsey and Kelsey jumps off the slanted rock and rolls back, as Gallagar breaks the rock. Kelsey now just runs and guns as Gallagar chases her. ¡°She dodged well. I should really help her though, somehow¡±, Mai says to herself. Mai then runs in behind Gallagar, transforms her bat into a lance and stabs him in the back of the foot with the lance, just above the heel. ¡°Gah!¡±, Gallagar screams. Gallagar then stomps again, making Mai and Kelsey bounce into the air. Gallagar then back kicks Mai into a cave wall and punches down on Kelsey. ¡°Ow.¡±, says Mai, holding her torso in pain. ¡°Okay, that didn¡¯t work, we really need to grab Saige and run¡±, she says to herself. Suddenly, those three bandits from earlier come back, awaken from unconsciousness.


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    ¡°Boss.¡±, the lead bandit says. ¡°Don¡¯t ¡°boss¡± me. You couldn¡¯t handle yourselves and so I had to do your job for you. These little pesks were little to nothing for me to handle.¡±, says Gallagar. ¡°What are we going to do with them?¡±, asks the second bandit. ¡°Well eat them, of course. I mean I will. And let this be a lesson to Airy Town.¡±, says Gallagar. Gallagar then picks up Mai by the back of the shirt and holds her over his mouth. ¡°No no! Ahhhh!¡±, yells Mai, as Gallagar swallows her whole.


    Suddenly, like a dart, something flies at Gallagar¡¯s stomach, making him barf up Mai in an instant. It¡¯s Saige. Saige stands covered in barf with Mai under his arm. ¡°S-Saige!¡±, Mai exclaims. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare! Eating Mai alive like that? I gotta kill you where you stand!¡±, yells Saige while having an angerful expression. Saige¡¯s horns are now a third of a meter long and have fire on the tips of them. ¡°Don¡¯t make me laugh!¡±, says Gallagar.


    ¡°That¡¯s our boss for you. You don¡¯t make him scared one bit.¡±, says the lead bandit. ¡°You couldn¡¯t do anything before. What makes you think...!¡±, Gallagar swings a fist at Saige and he catches it with one hand. ¡°Huh?¡±, questions Gallagar¡±. Saige then twists Gallagar¡¯s arm. ¡°GAH!!¡±, Gallagar yells. Gallagar holds his arm. ¡°How¡¯d you do that, you little bastard!? I gotta squash you where you stand!¡±, Gallagar says with a very anger expression, while using his other arm to punch Saige. Saige just slaps the punch away.


    Gallagar goes to grab him, but Saige just jumps up over the grab, lands on his arm, while still holding Mai, jumps up the arm and double boots Gallagar in the head, knocking Gallagar over. Saige then lands infront of Gallagar¡¯s face.


    Saige, now with red eyes, puts his hand in the air and grows a giant fireball in his palm. Saige breathes heavy. ¡°No no wait, please¡±, says Gallagar. ¡°That¡¯s right, squirm as you die, you maggot.¡± Saige says, as he mentally seems out of it. ¡°Saige?¡±, says Mai. Saige then snaps out of it, when he hears Mai¡¯s voice. The fireball then disappears.


    ¡°What.. what.¡±, says Saige in confusion. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt me! Please, I¡¯m sorry!¡±, cries Gallagar. ¡°...I don¡¯t even remember what I was doing.¡±, states Saige. ¡°I swear I¡¯ll leave Airy Town alone!!¡±, yells Gallagar. ¡°Oh. You promise?¡±, asks Saige. Gallagar just nods with tears in his eyes. ¡°Good... Then beat it.¡±, says Saige. Gallagar then comes running out of the cave holding his broken arm and crying as the bandits follow him out in a hurry. There¡¯s just a brief silence now, right before Saige starts talking. ¡°Uh.. Ready to get out of here?¡±, Saige asks. ¡°Y-Yeah sure. You can put me down now, by the way.¡±, Mai says, while relieved they won.

 Chapter 7

    It¡¯s now daytime, as Saige leans up against a wall inside Kelsey¡¯s house. ¡°Thank you so much for all that you did.¡±, says Kelsey¡¯s mom. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. Well actually, you should mostly thank Saige for his help.¡±, says Mai.


    Saige thinks back to when he faced Gallagar.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, squirm as you die, you maggot.¡±, says Saige in the flashback.


    Saige then snaps back to reality, and looks down to see Kelsey¡¯s mom holding his hand. ¡°Thank you so much for liberating our town of those bandits.¡±, says Kelsey¡¯s mom. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t mention it. Was no trouble.¡±, responds Saige. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve handled the bandits, we should make a celebration for you.¡±, says Kelsey¡¯s mom. ¡°No, sorry, but we gotta get going.¡±, states Mai. ¡°Oh, not one celebration?¡±, asks Kelsey¡¯s mom. ¡°Sorry, but I come from a settlement kinda distant and we should make it back soon or the people of that settlement would worry about us.¡±, states Mai in a straightforward response. ¡°Understood.¡±, says Kelsey¡¯s mom, with abit of disappointment. ¡°Can I come with!?¡±, says Kelsey.


    ¡°Kelsey.¡±, chimes in Kelsey¡¯s mom. ¡°It¡¯ll be a harrowing venture we¡¯ll have to go through. So it¡¯ll be dangerous.¡±, states Mai. ¡°But I can handle myself. You saw back in the cave.¡±, Kelsey. ¡°Like how you got knocked out?¡±, says Saige, in a taunting position. ¡°You got knocked out too. But no not that, I can dodge well. That training came from fighting bandits for months.¡±, says Kelsey.


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    Mai and Saige look at eachother, then back to Kelsey. ¡°Well you said to me you¡¯d like more people for your cause.¡±, says Saige to Mai. ¡°Well it¡¯s not about that, it¡¯s up to Kelsey¡¯s mother.¡±, Mai says. ¡°I would like her to stay, but if, Kelsey, you really want to go, I can¡¯t stop you.¡±, says Kelsey¡¯s mom. ¡°Well that about settles it?¡±, says Saige, in a slight taunting manor toward Mai. Mai sighs and pinches forehead, right before finally saying, ¡°Alright, fine, you can come.¡±.


    In due time later, the three stand at the edge of Airy Town with backpacks on, as Mai has her old attire on, Kelsey¡¯s wearing her armour and cape and Saige still has on the white t-shirt, red shorts and black shoes. As they stand there, the towns people stand nearby to see them off. The three wave goodbye as they go.


    ¡°Mmm, adventure! I can¡¯t believe it!¡±, exclaims Kelsey. ¡°Just so you know, I¡¯m teaching you how to fire a gun better.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Really? Sweet!¡±, says Kelsey, excited for the future. ¡°Hey Saige!¡±, Mai says.


    Saige seems to have been daydreaming off and snaps back to reality. ¡°You okay there?¡± asks Mai. Saige has a brief pause before talking. He then puts on a sudden happy demeanor, ¡°Yeah, never better. I mean I just defeated a demon general, right?¡±, ¡°Ex-demon general.¡±, Mai says in correction. Is that really necessary?, ¡°asks Saige¡±, ¡°What?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°To correct me. He still was a demon general. Making it sound like he wasn¡¯t!¡±, exclaims Saige. ¡°He was, I¡¯m just saying¡±. Mai smiles as she looks toward the sunny sky. And the three continue on their way.

 Chapter 8

    It¡¯s nighttime, as Kelsey, Mai and Saige sleep around a campfire in the middle of a field of grass. Meanwhile, in Saige¡¯s dream, Saige finds himself back in the fight with Gallagar and holding a giant fireball over his own head. ¡°Oh I¡¯m not done¡±, Saige says with a menacing look and red eyes. Saige then slowly brings the fireball down on Gallagar, while partially synching his face. ¡°Y¡¯AAAAAAAHHHH!!!¡±, Gallagar yells. Saige then turns his head and sees an old woman, ¡°Demon!¡±, she calls out. ¡°No no, I¡¯m not...¡±. Saige says in worry, as he looks at Gallagar to see half his face is melted off. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to.¡±, Saige says. ¡°Liar! And you killed your own mother too.¡±, the woman echoes back. Saige then wakes up.


    He notices Mai touching his stomach. ¡°Hey.¡±, Mai says with concern. ¡°Oh uh hey.¡±, Saige says, trying to seem fine. ¡°You mumble in your sleep.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Did I? Sorry about that. Guess it was how I snore?¡±, says Saige, trying to not worry her about himself. ¡°I also heard some choice words you were rambling on about. You wanna talk about it?¡±, says Mai. Saige just goes quiet and gives a sigh.


    Saige and Mai now sit next to eachother near the campfire. Saige¡¯s hesitant to talk, but then eventually starts. ¡°Where do I start? I guess ever since I was young, I always felt like I was a monster.¡±, says Saige. ¡°I see¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah¡±, says Saige. There¡¯s then just a brief moment of quietness in between them.


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    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±, Mai asks. ¡°What do you mean that¡¯s it.¡±, says Saige. ¡°I get it, but that¡¯s all?¡±, Mai asks. ¡°Well I was about to get into the rest of it.¡±, says Saige with abit of an irritated look. ¡°Oh. Go ahead.¡±, says Mai. ¡°...I guess.. that kinda is it. I always grew up thinking that the world thought of me as a monster, cause I have these abilities.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige, you¡¯re not a monster.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Easy to say, but through the stuff I managed to do. Like grow horns and almost kill Gallagar like that. Show I really am more of a demon than I think I am.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Where is this coming from exactly? Cause me and Kelsey think you¡¯re alright. And we think your powers come in handy really well.¡±, says Mai.


    ¡°But what if I end up hurting one of you, even by accident? I couldn''t forgive myself.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige you seem to have a comfortable control over your powers. I trust you won¡¯t hurt us.¡±, says Mai. ¡°...If you say so.¡±, says Saige. ¡°I practically.. I feel I know so. I feel we can trust you. You just need to trust in yourself.¡±, says Mai. ¡°...Alright.¡±, says Saige, still feeling abit of concern still. ¡°Now, is that all or is there anything more you wanted to talk about?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Nah.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°So you wanna go back to sleep?¡±, asks Mai, as she stands up and puts her hands on her hips. ¡°Ah, I think I wanna stay up abit longer.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Then I¡¯ll stay up with you.¡±, says Mai. ¡°...Thanks Mai.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡±, says Mai. Mai sits back down and the two sit for awhile through the night.

 Chapter 9

    It¡¯s the afternoon as, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are still around the campfire, which is now burnt out. Mai and Kelsey are gathered near eachother, looking over Kelsey¡¯s gun as Saige is still resting on the ground, with his arms behind his head. ¡°I see, so that¡¯s why it was ineffective.¡±, says Mai, while holding Kelsey¡¯s gun. ¡°What do you mean?¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°I mean, the gun when it¡¯s fired normally, it doesn¡¯t do much of an effect. Like when I fired it at those bandits. But when it¡¯s shot is charged, it¡¯s much more effective. Also looks like it gains power from sunlight.¡±, states Mai. ¡°I see, I see.¡±, Kelsey says as she nods in agreeance.


    ¡°So when are we going to do practise with it?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°Right now. Saige, you coming?¡±, says Mai as she looks over to Saige. ¡°Nah, I think I¡¯ll lie down for this one.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Being lazy? Alright.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yup!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Well let¡¯s go Kelsey.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Okay.¡±, says Kelsey.


    Given some time later, Kelsey and Mai are now in the forest. Mai runs inbetween trees, peaks out from behind a tree and shoots a demon rat nearby. The demon rat feels a shock from the gun, shakes all over, then runs away. ¡°Fortunately, it won¡¯t hurt them.. too much. As long as you don¡¯t charge the shot. You wanna try?¡±, says Mai.


    Mai then hands Kelsey the gun. Kelsey then tries aiming at a squirrel on a branch nearby. Kelsey shoots rapidly, but keeps missing the shot. The squirrel then jumps over to another tree. ¡°You can do it. Just keep trying. Remember the shot won¡¯t hurt the squirrel.¡±, states Mai. Kelsey charges the shot and shoots a whole branch down. The squirrel then moves and crawls down the tree and stands infront of another one. ¡°I can get this one, says Kelsey. She charges the shot. ¡°Be careful with the charge.¡±, says Mai.


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    Kelsey¡¯s charged shot ends up shooting through the tree and the tree begins to collapse over their way. ¡°AH! RUN!¡±, Mai shouts. They then try out running the tree, and they manage to dodge it in time, by jumping out of it¡¯s falling path. ¡°Well that was something.¡±, says Mai.


    Suddenly, they hear a loud roar and they see a demon-bear show up in the area and then it starts charging them head on. ¡°AAAAHHH!!!¡±, shouts Kelsey and Mai. They then start to outrun the demon-bear, but it seems to be catching up to them. ¡°Wait, I got this one!¡±, says Kelsey.


    Kelsey goes to charge another shot. ¡°Wait wait wait no!¡±, Mai tries to warn. Kelsey then turns around, and poses with her legs apart and one hand on the gun. ¡°Stand down to the might of the blue phoenix!¡±, Kelsey shouts as the demon-bear stands and she fires.


    Meanwhile with Saige. Saige yawns, stands up and stretches out his arms abit. ¡°What¡¯s up with all the commotion?¡±, says Saige as a response to all the noise he heard coming from the woods. He then goes and walks into the woods and sees blasted down trees and a demon-bear on the ground with a hole through it¡¯s stomach. ¡°Hey Saige! Look what I did!¡±, exclaims Kelsey with pride, as she points at the dead demon-bear. Mai just stands there in surprise.


    ¡°Look what you did, indeed.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that awesome Mai?¡±, asks Kelsey ¡°Mai?¡±, Kelsey asks again, but Mai just stands in silence, speechless, before sighing and then starting to talk. ¡°I think that¡¯s enough for today. Let¡¯s just head back to camp.¡±, says Mai.

 Chapter 10

    It¡¯s the middle of the day as Saige, Mai and Kelsey stand in front of a mechanized gate to a giant closed off blue mechanized base. ¡°Huh, so this is Strife Village.¡±, says Saige. ¡°No, this is the door to Strife Village.¡±, says Mai. There¡¯s a slightly cracked TV screen built into the base, just above the door. It turns on and a light-skinned bald man appears standing in front of the screen. ¡°State your business¡±, he says in a direct way.


    ¡°t¡¯s Mai. And I brought two new allies with me.¡±, Mai says while peering close into the screen. ¡°It¡¯s Mai! Open the door!¡±, the man on the screen says. The screen then turns off and the door opens upward. Kelsey, Mai and Saige, with Mai leading in front, then enter inside.


    Inside the base is hard blue walling and hard polished grey metal flooring. And it is a general open area with doors leading to other places within the base. As the three come in and the door closes behind them, various people of different ages come up and greet Mai and hug her. A random child even says, ¡°Welcome back Mai!¡±. ¡°Well Mai sure is welcomed.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Mhm¡±, says Kelsey.


    With more time given, the three eventually end up walking in through a door, that opens upward automatically, which leads to a bar within the base. ¡°I knew he¡¯d be here. Hey, Gregory!¡±, says Mai. There appears to be a light-skinned, bald man, with a goatee and very muscular build, sitting at the bar with a right robotic hand, a dark green tank top, brown pants and boots. He holds a bar glass with his robotic hand. ¡°Oh now I¡¯m hearing her voice. Oh Mai.¡±, the man known as Gregory says. ¡°Gregory, I¡¯m alive.¡±, states Mai. ¡°Oh Mai, you haunt me so.¡±, says Gregory. Mai then turns back to her group and says, ¡°Hooold on one second guys.¡±, right before kicking out the stool from under Gregory¡¯s butt, causing him to fall over on the floor.


    ¡°That was harsh.¡±, says Saige. ¡°H-Hey! *burps* who...?¡±, Gregory says while looking up. He sees Mai. ¡°Mai, you¡¯re back!¡±, shouts Gregory. He then hugs her hard. ¡°Huahaha, stop.¡±, asks Mai. ¡°So who¡¯s this guy, your boyfriend?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°What? Ew no, he¡¯s my dad.¡±, answers Mai. ¡°Dad?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Yeah. Well, I call him my dad. He¡¯s more so my adopted dad. He took care of me almost my whole life after my parents died.¡±, states Mai. ¡°Yup, changed her diapers and everything.¡±, states Gregory. ¡°I believe they get the idea, Gregory.¡±, states Mai, again.


    ¡°So Greg, is it? Mai never mentioned you, I¡¯ll be honest.¡±, says Saige. ¡°What, no mention of me?¡±, says Gregory while pouting. ¡°Uh I, it didn¡¯t come up.¡±, says Mai. ¡°You only mentioned your parents died! I thought you were an orphan!¡±, exclaims Saige. ¡°Well I was.. kinda!¡±, states Mai. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have to prove anything to you. Who are you anyway?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°The name¡¯s Saige.¡±, states Saige. ¡°¡±Saige¡±, huh. And are you infatuated with my Mai?¡±, asks Gregory in a concerned manor. ¡°Gre-¡±, says Mai, right before getting cut off. ¡°What if I was?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Huh!?¡±, exclaims Mai. ¡°Well if you want her, let¡¯s see a test of your mettle first *burp*.¡±, Gregory says as he faces Saige and does a boxer¡¯s pose. ¡°Gregory!¡±, exclaims Mai. Gregory then punches Saige with his non-metal hand and sends him flying out the door, which opens as Saige flies out. Gregory, Kelsey and Mai then step out of the bar to check on Saige.


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    Saige then grows red demon horns and a tail and stands. ¡°A demon.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Yow! The hell? Was that your metal fist?¡±, asks Saige. A random child nearby gasps and then hides behind his mom as a crowd essentially gathers quick. ¡°See Mai, it¡¯s a demon.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Wait, hold-¡±, says Mai, before getting ignored.


    Gregory then transforms his metal hand into a blaster. ¡°Whoa!¡±, Saige says. Gregory, now outside the bar, begins shooting at Saige with full force blasts as Saige runs around dodging them. Some people in the crowd then run off to gather weaponry. ¡°Wait, no, stop!¡±, shouts Mai. ¡°Get the demon! *Burp*¡±, shouts Gregory.


    Gregory then runs up, transforms his cannon back into a fist and punches Saige into the base wall. Saige gets up, even angrier. Multiple people then come back to point guns at Saige. Mai then jumps in front of Saige and stands there with her arms spread out, blocking people from shooting at him. ¡°Mai, move!¡±, Gregory shouts. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt him, he¡¯s my friend! I knew he was a demon, okay!¡±, shouts Mai. Mai then starts crying. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt him. I couldn¡¯t forgive myself if you did.¡±, says Mai. Everyone just look at eachother with disbelief.


    Cut to later, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige sit in the bar together. ¡°Well, that was a conundrum. Sorry for blasting you there.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°It¡¯s okay, you were drunk.¡±, says Saige. ¡°I was thinking Saige could join our cause.¡±, states Mai. Gregory then laughs at the statement. ¡°I¡¯m being serious.¡±, states Mai again. ¡°So am I. As serious as I can be after hearing that. You saw what happened. Imagine him teaming up with us, someone would accidentally or purposely shoot him. Already now, people are giving him the side eye.¡±, says Gregory, as the four of them look around the bar to see people actually eyeing Saige from across the way.


    ¡°And what are you? Are you a demon too?¡±, says Gregory as he points to Kelsey. ¡°No, just the Blue Phoenix.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Hm?¡±, says Gregory. ¡°That¡¯s just my hero name.¡±, says Kelsey. Gregory then laughs more as Mai pinches her own forehead in embarrassment.


    Eventually, after the four are finished talking at the bar, they go to Gregory¡¯s place, with Gregory leading them there. Upon opening the door to his place, they¡¯re greeted with a nice living room with a black three sectioned couch, kitchen area nearby and an archway beyond the living room, leading to a hallway.


    Gregory just lets Kelsey and Saige look around the place in wonder. ¡°Here¡¯s the thing. I¡¯ll let you two at least spend time here for the night, but in the morning you¡¯ll be put to work. If you wanna prove your usefulness, that¡¯s how. And if you wanna stay here too, that¡¯s how.¡±, states Gregory. He then throws sleeping bags to Kelsey and Saige.


    ¡°Now in this living room is where you two will be sleeping as me and Mai already have our own rooms, got it?¡±, says Gregory. ¡°No complaints.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Alright. Goodnight.¡±, Gregory says as he turns off the light.

 Chapter 11

    It¡¯s morning time as Kelsey and Saige carry baskets of clothes from a river nearby Strife Village.


    Later on, in another moment, Kelsey and Saige are picking out plants to put in another basket.


    Later on, in another moment, Kelsey and Saige are folding laundry as Saige awkwardly folds clothing, while not being sure how to fold clothes properly.


    Later on, again, Kelsey and Saige are back in Gregory¡¯s place. Saige sits on his sleeping bag, behind the couch, as Kelsey sits on the couch. Saige then takes out a metal bottle and starts drinking from it. ¡°Whatcha drinking?¡±, asks Kelsey as she peers over the back of the couch to Saige. ¡°Water. Mai gave it to me. Want some?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Sure!¡±, says Kelsey. As Saige extends out the bottle, Kelsey just grabs it and guzzles the water down. ¡°Don¡¯t... ah, nevermind.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Sorry, was very thirsty.¡±, says Kelsey.


    Mai then barges in with Gregory¡¯s arm over her back and Gregory leaning on Mai for support while drunk. ¡°Oh come on, he¡¯s drunk again?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Third night in a row.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Ha haa ha *Burps*¡±, says Gregory. Mai then drops him on the floor. ¡°Like I said, he usually drinks the night away.¡±, says Mai. ¡°But why? Is the stuff that good?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°He¡¯s.. lost people. So yeah.¡±, states Mai. ¡°Like.. during the war?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yeah. It tends to eat him up inside.¡±, says Mai. ¡°...Damn.¡±, says Saige.


    Cut to later and it¡¯s now nighttime. Everyone appears to be asleep in Gregory¡¯s place, then Gregory wakes up off the floor and heads to the kitchen. Saige also wakes up and notices Gregory awake and decides to also make his way to the kitchen. Saige then catches Gregory in the middle of making a sandwich. ¡°You sure are a weird guy. The booze knocks you out then you wake up in the middle of the night and make a sandwich?¡±, says Saige. ¡°What¡¯s it to you?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Just observing.¡±, states Saige. ¡°You¡¯ve been doing good over the past few days, by the way.¡±, states Gregory. ¡°Really?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yeah. Haven¡¯t complained yet and you get the jobs done.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Yeaah.¡±, says Saige. ¡°So Mai told me your story.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°She did?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yeah, but don¡¯t interrupt. So what makes you wanna join our cause?¡±, asks Gregory.


    Saige goes silent trying to ponder a reason for him to join the cause in the hunt for Azrael. He then speaks, ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, I didn¡¯t come this way to just join the cause. Mai just said you guys would need my help.¡±. ¡°Hmph. She did? Then what ¡®did¡¯ you come all this way for?¡±, asks Gregory.


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    Saige ponders again before answering. ¡°You know, I¡¯m unsure exactly.¡±. ¡°But you still wanna join our cause?¡±, asks Gregory. Saige sits down on a nearby stool next to the kitchen island. ¡°I guess I just wanted to be apart of something.¡±, says Saige.


    Gregory goes silent, but then sits on a nearby stool with him. ¡°Here¡¯s a better idea. You two, being you and Kelsey, stay and get settled in here. You don¡¯t have to join the search for Azrael, just to be a part of here. Mai has good intentions, but maybe she wasn¡¯t thinking straight.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°So you¡¯ll actually let me stay?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°As long as you keep doing the work. Sure. I¡¯m not heartless.¡±, says Gregory. The night ends off on their conversation.


    Eventually, it then becomes the next day. Kelsey, Mai and Saige grab baskets and get ready to go out for some work. ¡°Gonna step out. Got a town meeting.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Alright.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Town meeting?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°It¡¯s when he meets with the heads of the town. Including our settlement leader, ¡°General Richter¡±.¡±, states Mai. ¡°Yup. Be back, probably by the afternoon.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Okay!¡±, says Mai. ¡°See ya!¡±, says Kelsey. Gregory then leaves.


    In eventual time, Gregory makes it to the meeting and he sits around a table with nine other individuals. ¡°...And so far, at Azrael¡¯s outpost 0, we haven¡¯t found a trace of him. Azrael has to be hiding somewhere near here, General Richter.¡±, says Gregory, in a briefing report. ¡°I see. And how¡¯s Saige doing?¡±, asks General Richter. ¡°Saige? Well...¡±, says Gregory, right before getting cut off. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you haven¡¯t kicked him out yet. He is a demon, after all.¡±, says one of the people. Gregory just goes silent as he looks sternly at the person who said that. ¡°Now.. Father Terrance, I know you had your people at Creed Town kick him out, but Gregory and I are handling things differently. So far, he¡¯s been helpful out at manual labour.¡±, says General Richter.


    ¡°That¡¯s because he¡¯s so desperate to find belonging that he doesn¡¯t want to complain and mess it all up for himself.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Father Terrance...¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Your stepping abit out of line Father Terrance. We still haven¡¯t heard from Gregory. How has Saige been?¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Been pretty good. He struggled a bit at folding laundry though, but he knows how to tend to the fields and collect clothing.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°That¡¯s good. And no incidents?¡±, asks General Richter. ¡°No.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°And how do we know he hasn¡¯t made any demon allies outside your village? He could be making deals for all we know against us.¡±, says Father Terrance.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±, says one of the heads. ¡°He has a point.¡±, says another head. ¡°Listen, I¡¯ve been getting to know Saige, and he seems like an alright kid. Just runs his mouth sometimes, but that¡¯s it.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°For our sake, I hope you¡¯re right.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Listen, each moment he¡¯s here is a moment where we¡¯re unsafe.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Hold on now. What of his choice for joining our cause?¡±, asks General Richter. ¡°He.. isn¡¯t really for it. Seems Mai was talking him into it, saying we could use his help.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°And what would we need his help for? What a delusion to have.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°You know Terrance, I¡¯ve almost had it. I¡¯m about getting ready to...¡±, says Gregory, before getting cut off. ¡°Greg. Sorry Father Terrance, he didn¡¯t mean it.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought.¡±, says Father Terrance.


    Gregory just sits there, looking at Father Terrance with a stern look. ¡°Now in light of the information shared, it seems not much has changed. Saige, I believe, it would be best for him to stay under your care Greg and we continue the search for Azrael. Okay.¡±, says General Richter. Everyone then nods and generally agrees. ¡°Meet adjourned.¡±, says General Richter.

 Chapter 12

    It¡¯s the middle of the day as Kelsey, Mai and Saige are picking vegetables off plants and putting them into baskets, outside. Gradually, Saige looks up to the sky and wipes off sweat on his forehead. ¡°Man it¡¯s hot.¡±, says Saige. ¡°What you wanna cool off in the river?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Alright, but it¡¯ll have to be after we finish picking food.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Alright.¡±, says Saige.


    The three eventually finish picking their baskets full of vegetables, then they go by the river side and sit with their shoes and socks off and toes dipped in the river. ¡°So I got questions.¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Hm?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Why is your settlement so armoured compared to like, you know, the usual settlement?¡±, says Saige. ¡°It goes back to the time of the war. When the war was going on, this was known as Outpost Strife. And it was a place where soldiers would get trained before being deployed to what we now call, ¡°Ground Zero¡±, the broken down city you were living in, Saige.¡±, explains Mai. ¡°Oh cool. No wonder it¡¯s so armoured.¡±, chimes in Kelsey.


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    ¡°Yeah, and Ground Zero I hear, from Gregory, that it use to go by the name, ¡°The Sapphire Kingdom¡±. You see, Gregory was a knighted lieutenant when he was serving, but when it came to a time at the end of the war, he was put in charge of finding the whereabouts of Azrael, after Azrael went into hiding. Chances are, your dad also trained at this place too, Saige, since it¡¯s close to Creed Town.¡±, explains Mai more.


    ¡°You don¡¯t say.¡±, says Saige. ¡°My dad too?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°Yeah, more likely.¡±, says Mai. ¡°So are there other outposts like this one?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Of course. And they were also turned into settlement towns as well.¡±, says Mai. ¡°I see. One more question, so this General Richter, he was Greg¡¯s superior, during the war?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°More like he was his teammate. He use to actually be known as Knighted Lieutenant Richter, until their former leader, Knighted General Graves, died during the war. Now, Richter is the Knighted General, overseeing the town.¡±, says Mai.


    ¡°Wow, so this is really a monument for heroes.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Uh.. you could say that, I guess.¡±, says Mai.

 Chapter 13

    It¡¯s midday as Kelsey, Mai and Saige carry vegetables in baskets back to Strife Village. Suddenly, overhead, the three notice demon birds flying past the base, then circle back around. ¡°That¡¯s odd.¡± says Saige. ¡°Yeah¡±, says Mai.


    They get inside, drop off their baskets with other people inside, then go to Gregory¡¯s quarters. Upon getting inside, they see Gregory sitting on the couch. ¡°We saw a couple of demon birds just a bit ago, but then they flew away.¡±, says Mai. ¡°That¡¯s not good. I¡¯ll have to tell the guards.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Yeah.¡±, says Mai. Kelsey then squeezes in between their group to stand in front of Mai and face Gregory. ¡°Want us to do anything about it?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°No no, we¡¯ll just handle it. It doesn¡¯t take much, but to lock down the base. Just stay inside for now.¡±, says Gregory.


    Cut to nighttime now and the base is under lockdown. In the night, people walk around to get supplies and hear hundreds of demon birds cawing, kicking and clawing at the base from the outside. Kelsey, Mai and Saige patrol the inside of the base to see how people are doing, and they notice some families walking scared and children holding on tightly to their parents.


    Mai then goes up to a child and their mom. ¡°It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s going to be okay.¡±, says Mai. ¡°So this is what you usually do?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yeah. Just about. And go hunting out for Azrael.¡±, says Mai. The three continue to walk together. ¡°So I heard you don¡¯t wanna join our cause, Saige.¡±, says Mai. ¡°You don¡¯t?¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°I.. well I didn¡¯t exactly say that, but I didn¡¯t really see a point in joining.¡±, says Saige. Saige then looks around at all the people*


    ¡°Demons overtake this world and cause dismay somewhere everyday.¡±, says Mai. ¡°So that¡¯s why you hunt Azrael, but what makes you think things will end once you find him?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Oh we don¡¯t, but we believe demons will become more disorganized.¡±, says Mai. ¡°How?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Well if we take out the heads. You see Gallagar, when he led those bandits. Then when you defeated him, the bandits became disorganized.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah? Well I don¡¯t know about ¡°disorganized¡±, more like they followed him out.¡±, says Saige. Mai shakes her head, ¡°no¡±. ¡°They did become disorganized or at least learned to not continue their ways and leave Airy Town alone. If we take out the heads, such as the one leading this attack, then we could have less dismay around the place. Your power took out Gallagar, it could take out much more too.¡±, says Mai.


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    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, I still don¡¯t know how I took out the big guy.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Then we could learn how to use your power, together.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Oh okay.¡±, says Saige while blushing. ¡°Sound like a plan?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Ah, sure.¡±, says Saige. ¡°By the way...?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Yeah?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°I¡¯ve been wondering some days ago. When you started a fight with Gregory.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah no, that was stupid of me. Well he started it, but...¡±, says Saige right before being cut off. ¡°You admitted you were infatuated with me.¡±, says Mai.


    ¡°Whaa!¡±, exclaims Saige. ¡°Was that true!?¡±, asks Mai is a sort of teasing way. ¡°No, I-I just wanted a fight with Greg!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Aww, so it wasn¡¯t true!?¡±, asks Mai in continued teasing. ¡°Of course not, why are you talking about this now!?¡±, says Saige as he blushes hard while talking.


    In response, people then start to laugh, chuckle and whisper about Saige, while smiling. An old wife and husband then chime in. ¡°Young love.¡±, the old wife says. ¡°He should just admit it.¡±, the old husband says. ¡°Admit what!? Hey, shutup!¡±, exclaims Saige. Mai then laughs too, and looks around at everyone joining in, while forgetting about the noises outside, and Mai just smiles. ¡°I¡¯m not infatuated!¡±, yells Saige.


    Eventually, it then gets to morning time as Kelsey, Mai and Saige sit at the kitchen island with Gregory, in his quarters. ¡°Huh, so you still wanna join the cause?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Yeah.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Mai, what did you put in his head?¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s not just Mai. The people last night. I saw so many scared people. And I think it isn¡¯t right for demons to terrorize like that. So.. I wanna join the search for Azrael.¡±, says Saige.


    There¡¯s a moment of silence as Gregory pinches his forehead before speaking. ¡°Alright, but I¡¯ll have to talk to General Richter about this. If you¡¯re serious about this, Saige.¡±, says Gregory.

 Chapter 14

    Gregory is sitting at the bar front next to General Richter, as they are the only two in the bar at the time, besides the bartender behind the bar front. Both Gregory and General Richter have half a glass of beer infront of them, as they talk. Gregory just comes out of briefing General Richter on Saige¡¯s new decision to join the hunt for Azrael. ¡°...And so he saw the people we protect and had a change of heart.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°So suddenly like that he wants to join us?¡±, asks General Richter. ¡°Also, Mai might¡¯ve gotten into his head again.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°Damnit Greg...¡±, says General Richter as he slams his fist on the table. The bartender looks over with concern, while wiping a bar glass from behind the bar. Then the bartender goes back to focus on the bar glass. ¡°...we don¡¯t need this wishy washy decision making in our searching.¡±, says General Richter.


    ¡°I know I know... but just to bring it up again, he was the one who defeated Gallagar.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Not confirmed.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°It was confirmed by Mai.¡±, says Gregory. General Richter takes a pause before talking. ¡°Listen there¡¯s multiple things to process here. Letting a demon work alongside our forces, seeing if he¡¯s experienced enough at fighting and not being sure if he¡¯s truly working with the other side or not.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°So you¡¯re believing Father Terrance?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Not believing, but putting it down for consideration. I still find it a liability he¡¯s here, but I don¡¯t have the heart to kick him out.¡±, says General Richter.


    The two take a brief pause both thinking it over as they both take a drink from their glasses and then put them down. ¡°How about... I got it, Outpost 0.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°What about it?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°You and Mai go back there and give a thorough report this time of the outpost and you take Saige with you.¡±, says General Richter.


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    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°If what you said is true, about him taking out Gallagar, then he should have no trouble getting you through Outpost 0.¡±, says General Richter.


    ¡°I almost lost Mai there.¡±, Gregory says as he closes the distance between his face and the side of General Richter¡¯s head. ¡°Then you can go with just you and Saige. But if Saige is so tough, he could help get you through this outpost.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Richter...¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Hey Greg, I¡¯m not saying you have to do it, but if Saige wants to be let on our side so bad, that¡¯s the way I say he proves himself. Now you can take the offer or you can leave it.¡±, says General Richter in a slightly aggravated voice.


    In soon time the two finish up at the bar, and Gregory comes back home to his own quarters. And he sees Kelsey, Mai and Saige resting in the living room looking at the TV, at a cartoon mouse being chased by a cartoon cat. Gregory walks over and presses a button on a box under the TV stand and the television program freezes.


    ¡°Aww¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Hey, what gives Greg, we were watching that¡±, says Saige. ¡°Well watch it later. You wanted in on our search party, well you have it.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°You¡¯re in!¡±, yells Mai in contentment, as she goes to hug Saige. ¡°Not yet, he has to do something first.¡±, says Gregory as Mai stops herself and goes back to sitting, while she pouts. ¡°Me and you are going to Outpost 0.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Hold on, Outpost 0?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Richter said that¡¯s the only way he can join. Prove himself by scouting out Outpost 0, then he can join us.¡±, explains Gregory.


    ¡°Wait, if he goes with you, then I¡¯m coming too.¡±, says Mai, as she stands up with a determined look on her face. ¡°No, it¡¯s too dangerous Mai. You almost got lost there last time.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°I¡¯m not staying while you and Saige go alone.¡±, argues Mai. ¡°Me too! I can¡¯t let my new teammate, White Talon, go alone, as well!¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°White who?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°It¡¯s Saige¡¯s hero title.¡±, explains Kelsey.


    Gregory looks at Saige with confusion. ¡°It¡¯s a name I made up on the spot. I used it one time.¡±, says Saige. Gregory pinches his forehead then faces forward. ¡°Fine. You three can all join in, but be careful.¡±, says Gregory. The three of them cheer and talk excitedly about Outpost 0, while Gregory groans, as no one notices.

 Chapter 15

    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are gathered in the kitchen. ¡°Okay, before we go out there, we¡¯re going to have to start training.¡±, says Gregory.


    Cut to later and in the next moment, the four are at a gun range inside the base, as Kelsey, Mai and Saige are each in a shooting range stall, while Gregory stands in the back. The targets at the end of the gun range show circular target markings infront of the silhouette of a typical demon. Each of them aim with assault rifles, that shoot laser shots.


    ¡°These are assault rifles, that shoot holy light. They are supposed to be especially effective on demons.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Is that really true, them being effective on demons?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°We like to think so. They have been blessed by the pastors of Creed Town to produce holy light.¡±, says Gregory. Saige rolls his eyes as Gregory doesn¡¯t notice. ¡°Now I want you to practise on these targets. Just shoot and try to hit the center. Go!¡±, says Gregory.


    Kelsey, Mai and Saige shoot multiple shots. Mai is hitting dead center. Saige shoots and misses a few times, then gets mad and shoots up the entire target board. Kelsey shoots and keeps missing the target, ¡°Oh dangit... Oh dangit... Oh dangit.¡±, says Kelsey after each shot she misses. Gregory just facepalms.


    Cut to later and Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are in the wilderness, within a clearing in the forest as it¡¯s midday. ¡°Here you will test your mettle. We will fight eachother to improve our combat skills.¡± says Gregory. First up is Mai verses Kelsey as Gregory and Saige stand to the side. Mai runs in and high kicks at Kelsey. Another moment, Mai punches Kelsey in the gut and she falls to her knees. Another moment Mai trips Kelsey with a low leg sweep. Another moment Mai judo throws Kelsey over her shoulder. Another moment Mai elbows Kelsey in the gut, causing Kelsey to hold her gut then make a ¡°T¡±, with her hands, calling for a ¡°Time-out¡±.


    Next, Gregory and Saige face off as Kelsey and Mai stand at the side. Gregory goes into a boxer¡¯s stance as Saige tries to mimic Gregory¡¯s stance. Saige charges at Gregory, then Gregory just judo throws Saige over his shoulder and onto the ground. Another moment Saige charges at Gregory again and gets thrown over the shoulder again. Another moment Saige charges at Gregory and dodges Gregory¡¯s grapple, but then Gregory punches him back.


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    Cut to later, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige get back to Gregory¡¯s quarters and Kelsey and Saige collapse on the couch. ¡°So far, you two are crap. But we¡¯ll get you to be better. Ya just need more training and I¡¯ll be here for it.¡±, says Gregory.


    Cut to the next day Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are back at the gun range and Kelsey and Saige seem to be improving as Gregory walks past the back of them.


    Cut to later, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are in the forest again, facing off against eachother. First is Kelsey verses Mai, as Kelsey rushes at Mai and dodges a punch, but then gets judo thrown over Mai¡¯s should.


    Next is Gregory verses Saige, as Saige rushes at Gregory, then gets uppercutted in the chin, sending Saige flying into the sky and landing in some trees in the distance.


    Cut to later and Kelsey and Saige are sleeping in their sleeping bags, in Gregory¡¯s living room. Early in the morning, Gregory stomps on the floor to wake them up. And they both look at Gregory irritated. ¡°Training.¡±, is all Gregory says.


    Cut to later and Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are back at the gun range. Gregory walks by the back of everyone and sees they¡¯re hitting the target better. Gregory then nods in approval.


    Cut to later and Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are back in the forest clearing, fighting. Starting with Kelsey verses Mai, as Mai does several jabs at Kelsey, but Kelsey learns to swerve around the blows and block with her outer arms. Gregory nods in approval while watching. Then it¡¯s Gregory verses Saige, as both get into a boxer¡¯s stance, then Saige runs in and dodges all of Gregory¡¯s various grapples and punches. Generally, both fights end up in a tie.


    Cut to later, Kelsey and Saige are sleeping in their sleeping bags in Gregory¡¯s living room, as Gregory then storms in and stomps on the floor. Both Kelsey and Saige wake up looking tired still. ¡°Training!¡±, shouts Gregory.


    Cut to later and Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are at the gun range shooting nearly perfect on their targets as Gregory walks by the back of them, admiring the shots and nodding in approval.


    Cut to later, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige fight eachother in the wilderness clearing again. It starts with Kelsey verses Mai, and the two of them seem pretty even in punching and dodging eachother, then Kelsey gets to swing Mai over her shoulder in the same judo throw Mai did to her. Next is Gregory versus Saige, as Saige generally shows off how good he is at dodging Gregory¡¯s punches. Then Saige jumps in the air and does a downward kick on Gregory¡¯s head, which Gregory blocks with both arms, but then his arms shake as Saige grows his horns out. Suddenly now, there¡¯s a small crater around Gregory¡¯s feet. ¡°Okay. Okay! I yield!¡±, says Gregory in surrender. Saige just smiles and flips off of Gregory¡¯s arms and lands. ¡°Oh yeah, who¡¯s the tough one now!¡±, says Saige as he flexes his arms. Gregory just chuckles.


    Cut to later and Gregory stomps on the floor of his living room again. ¡°Training!¡±, shouts Gregory.

 Chapter 16

    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are within Gregory¡¯s kitchen. Gregory then hands Saige a handgun. ¡°Cool¡±, says Saige. ¡°Since Kelsey and Mai already have one.¡±, says Gregory.


    Mai then comes in to correct him, ¡°AAAActually, I lost mine.¡±. ¡°Here¡¯s a new one.¡±, says Gregory as he reaches for his pocketside, takes off his own handgun and hands it to Mai. ¡°Don¡¯t lose it. Okay, let¡¯s head to the garage. Follow me out.¡±, says Gregory.


    Gregory leads the way as Kelsey, Mai and Saige follow. First exiting Gregory¡¯s quarters, walking through the base in between people, entering a door near the back end of the base, then taking stairs downward into a sub-floor. Eventually, they then reach a wide metallic door with a keypad on the side. Gregory types in a code into the keypad, and the door then opens upward.


    On the inside, as soon as the lights come on, it¡¯s revealed to be a long underground vehicle bunker, packed with different types of vehicles. ¡°Whoa.¡±, say Kelsey and Saige in unison. ¡°Oooo, what are those!?¡±, says Kelsey as she points to what looks like two white motorcycles, but without a place for wheels to go. ¡°Those? Those are hover bikes.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Awesome!¡±, says Saige. ¡°We¡¯re not riding those.¡±, says Gregory, quickly, as to shoot down Saige¡¯s hopes.


    ¡°Why not!?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Cause that¡¯s for the elite of us, like myself. They come from the old days of the war and we only have a limited supply of them. We don¡¯t want noobies riding them out and breaking them up.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°What¡¯s a noobie?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°It¡¯s another word for a beginner.¡±, responds Mai. ¡°Yup, no we¡¯re not riding those.¡±, says Gregory, as he continues to walk forward past the vehicles. The rest of the group continues to follow him until they come across a slightly rusted, but armoured dune buggy with a gun turret built in on top. Gregory then taps on the vehicle twice. ¡°This is Old Betty. She¡¯s a junker buggy¡±. There¡¯s a pause as they just look at the junker buggy, which looks in slightly poor condition. ¡°This old pile of crap?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Hey you¡¯ll hurt it¡¯s feelings.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°It¡¯s a car.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean being nice to it won¡¯t give us good luck down the road. He didn¡¯t mean it Old Betty.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Well at least it has a gun on it.¡±, says Saige as he looks at and admires the top turret. ¡°Can I man the gun?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°Can it be manned?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yes it can be manned, but Mai¡¯s manning the gun, while she gets passenger seating so she can control it.¡±, states Gregory. ¡°Aw, I don¡¯t get front seat?¡±, asks Saige.


    ¡°What¡¯s with you Saige? I thought you would be grateful to at least ride in an armoured car. After having to just walk and live off scraps.¡±, says Mai. Saige then tries to stop complaining and straighten his face out, although he still looks grumpy. ¡°Thank you, I guess. This is the type of experience I wanted, I guess.¡±, says Saige.


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    ¡°Are you sure I can¡¯t handle the gun? I already passed gun training.¡±, asks Kelsey again. ¡°Shooting a gun and manning the gun of Old Betty is different practises within themself.¡±, states Gregory.


    Suddenly, two guys are walking down from the vehicle bunker entrance. One of them is muscular, dark skinned, wearing a casual marine set of clothes and a helmet on like Kelsey¡¯s. The other is muscular, light skinned, sporting a red-haired buzzcut and casual marine clothes too. ¡°Oi, you leaving without saying a little goodbye to us?¡±, says the red-haired one.


    ¡°Aww you two! Ha ha! Guys, this is Jax and Roman. The helmet guy is Jax and our redhead over here is Roman.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°I can introduce myself, alright.¡±, says Roman with a slightly aggravated tone. ¡°Alright alright.¡±, says Jax. Kelsey then faces Jax, walks over and looks him in the eyes. ¡°Nice helmet¡±, says Kelsey. Jax just smiles and nods toward her.


    ¡°Eh? What are you doing with a helmet like that, young missy?¡±, says Roman toward Kelsey. ¡°Yeah, how do you have the same helmet?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Remember Saige, she got it from her dad.¡±, states Mai. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s a helmet that belongs to the league of Sapphire Knights. I have an old one like it too.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Same. So that¡¯s your dad¡¯s helmet. Best take good care of it. And what¡¯s with the rest of this gettup?¡±, says Roman. ¡°It¡¯s my hero gear! I¡¯m the Blue Phoenix.¡±, responds Kelsey, as she twirls while holding her cape.


    Gregory and Mai both pinch their foreheads in an embarrassed response. ¡°Cool.¡±, says Jax. ¡°Hahaha! Alright Blue Phoenix. Greg, you better take care of this one. And I see the demon¡¯s with you as well. Though, Richter already told us about that.¡±, says Roman. ¡°Not a.. demon.¡±, says Saige. ¡°What was that?¡±, asks Roman. ¡°I¡¯m not a demon!¡±, responds back Saige again. ¡°A little horned rascal like you isn¡¯t a demon?¡±, asks Roman. ¡°No I¡¯m not.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Then what are you then, cause you certainly aren¡¯t human?¡±, says Roman. ¡°What if I test myself out. If I kick your ass without growing horns, would that prove I¡¯m human?¡±, says Saige. ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try young welp.¡±, responds Roman.


    The two then get in eachother¡¯s faces and it looks like Saige¡¯s about to punch Roman in the face, until Mai catches the fist from behind him, puts her arms under his arms and pulls him back. Meanwhile, Jax grips Roman¡¯s shoulder and pulls him back too. ¡°Whoa whoa whoa. Saige, don¡¯t you dare, he served in the war. And you need to apologize.¡±, says Mai.


    Saige shrugs off Mai and she backs up. ¡°I¡¯m not apologizing to this weird speaking old dead beat.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Weird speaking old dead beat eh!? So you wanna take this outside!?¡±, says Roman as he cracks his knuckles. ¡°Bring it!¡±, says Saige. Gregory then punches Saige in the back of the head as Jax pulls Roman back by the shoulder again. ¡°Enough! Saige, you don¡¯t gotta apologize, but watch your tongue.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Fine.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Oi, better keep this little ol demon in line, Gregory.¡±, says Roman. ¡°Not a demon.¡±, says Saige. ¡°And that¡¯s enough out of you Roman.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Fine fine.¡±, says Roman. ¡°We need to serve on the same team here, so cool your jets.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Cool.¡±, says Jax. ¡°Right, don¡¯t need to tell me Jax. Let¡¯s get out of here. Don¡¯t get yourself killed on the field kid. Let¡¯s go Jax.¡±, says Roman as he leaves. Jax just nods back to them and leaves with Roman. ¡°Ah-¡±, says Saige right before being cut off by Gregory. ¡°Saige, no¡±, says Gregory.


    The next moment, a garage door opens from the side of the base and out comes, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige in Old Betty, the junker buggy. Kelsey and Saige are in the back, as Gregory has the wheel and Mai is in the passenger seat, manning two joysticks, while looking on a camera screen that shows a view from the turret.


    ¡°Everyone ready?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Mhm.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yup.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°All good back here.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Then let¡¯s go to Outpost 0.¡±, says Gregory. They drive through a direct line cleared through the forest until ending up on a concrete road. They then drive down the road.

 Chapter 17

    Old Betty, the junker buggy, drives down a concrete road with Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige inside. As this happens, the car is getting chased by two flying demon birds, and one of them bashes the side of the car.


    Mai tries shooting the car¡¯s top turret, from her passenger seat, while aiming at the demon birds.


    Suddenly, the car hits a bump and everyone gets bounced up in their seat for a second. ¡°Keep it steady Gregory!¡±, shouts Mai. ¡°I¡¯m trying!¡±, shouts Gregory. Mai then finishes shooting down the demon bird that rammed them earlier. She then aims and shoots down the second demon bird as well, right before it was about to ram the side of the vehicle. ¡°Phew, got them.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Remember not to let up yet.¡±, says Gregory. They keep driving down the road.


    Eventually they reach a road leading over a wide sewer pipe opening. ¡°Okay, here we are.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Really, looks like we¡¯re in the middle of nowhere important¡±, says Saige. ¡°This isn¡¯t Outpost 0, this is the checkpoint we park at as we walk up to Outpost 0.¡±, says Gregory as he gets out the vehicle. Kelsey then opens the door and hops out while feeling energized. She then crouches forward and balls up her fists infront of her chest while saying, ¡°Well I¡¯m ready to kill some demons!¡±. ¡°Yes, let¡¯s get ready to kill demons.¡±, says Gregory with a less energized front. Gregory then places a hand on his robotic wrist and it shifts forward to become a blaster. But although Gregory is ready, he has a worried look on his face, as if he believes everything could go south.


    ¡°What''s the plan this time?¡±, says Mai toward Gregory. ¡°We have to head to the remaining sectors we haven¡¯t seen this time and scan them.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°But no plan?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°The plan is we take the usual way and Saige is our backup.¡±, says Gregory. Gregory and Mai just look at Saige as Saige looks back at the two of them. Gregory then sighs and says, ¡°Hope you come in handy.¡±. ¡°Uhh.¡±, responds Saige. ¡°Now to the actual route. There¡¯s an underground route that leads inside the fortress known as Outpost 0. We¡¯ll take that route in.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Oh, okay.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°We travel together and no splitting off.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Alright.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Gotchya.¡±, says Saige. ¡°And no fighting unless necessary. We¡¯ll sneak around.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°Aww.¡±, says Kelsey as she hunched forward with her arms dangling down. ¡°Hey! ..No ¡°aw¡±s, this is the best chance we have t survive this. Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±, says Gregory as he snaps to a serious aggravated tone. Gregory then walks off to the side of the road and slides down a short hill then briefly stomps through murky water until he touches the sewer pipe under the road. ¡°Here is how we get in¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Aw gross¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°We have to crawl through a sewer line?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°It¡±s our only way in. You just have to deal with it guys.¡±, says Mai, right before sliding down the hill herself. ¡°Hey weren¡¯t you the one to complain about getting demon-bear blood on your clothes and now you¡¯re okay with this?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°It¡¯s the only safe route in, what do you want me to say, Saige?¡±, says Mai with a stern look toward him. Saige¡¯s eyes then widen in surprise. ¡°Fine.¡±, says Saige as he slides down the hill too.


    In due time, the four of them are walking through the sewer line. ¡°Man it stinks in here¡±, says Saige. ¡°Be quiet. We don¡¯t want them to detect us.¡±, says Gregory. Eventually they then reach a ladder to the side, leading up to a hatch. ¡°Here we are. Now what you¡¯re about to see may look horrifying so brace yourselves.¡±, says Gregory. Gregory climbs up the ladder first, as the others climb up behind him. He then lifts the hatch, sticks out his head and looks around, then when he sees it¡¯s clear he climbs out of the hole to end up on grassy ground. Mai then comes out next, followed by Saige, and then Kelsey. Saige and Kelsey then look around in horror as they see red walling made out of a combination of red brick and red t-posed human bodies with gaping open mouths and no eyes. As the ceiling appears to be 10 meters high.


    ¡°What the hell is this?¡±, says Saige. ¡°The remains of the town people who lived here. Their bodies help partly make up the walls of this place we call Outpost 0¡±. ¡°This is too much.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°I know.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°But let¡¯s not waste too much time. We have to scan this place out. Mai.¡±, says Gregory. Mai reveals her wrist device she had on since they came over in Old Betty. ¡°Right¡±, says Mai.


    The group walks forward out of the room, then they weave around a corner and hide from a group of flying demon birds. The demon birds pass by without ever noticing them. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige continue walking throughout the place, until they reach an open room. Mai then stands with her wrist pointed out and a holographic grid projects out of the device and scans the room. ¡°So what¡¯s the point of this?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°To get an advantage when we return with more units to take over the outpost and clear it out.¡±, says Gregory. Mai then finishes scanning. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s keep moving.¡±, says Mai.


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    Through a gradual progress, Gregory, Mai, Kelsey and Saige make it from room-to-room scanning the inner structure. Along the way, Saige then asks a question, ¡°Hey how come this place is mostly empty?¡±. Kelsey, not paying attention, continues to look at the walls, while being creeped out by them. ¡°And how come the walls are like this?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°The defense is mainly outside. Inside these corridors the demon birds hardly have a reason to be inside, since they expect people to not have been able to get in, in the first place. As for the walls, like I said, you¡¯re looking at the remains of the people that last lived in the town that stood here. Their bodies were encased inside a special red resin of Hellish origin, and it¡¯s what demon structures are mainly built from. Also another thing...¡±, says Gregory, right before freezing up.


    Five demon birds then enter the room the group is in, right infront of the group. ¡°Intruders!!¡±, says the middle demon bird. ¡°We need to stop them now! Before they tell the others! Or else we¡¯ll really be in trouble!¡±, says Gregory. The demon birds stop to shoot at them, with red laser blasters. Meanwhile, one demon bird leaves to alert the others. ¡°I got that one!¡±, says Saige. Saige then runs after the bird from a distance and briefly grows horns and a tail while shifting to run on all fours.


    ¡°A-Another demon!?¡±, one of the demon birds shouts. Saige then dodges blaster fire, jumps and grips two of the flying demon birds by the necks, while landing on the fleeing one¡¯s backside. He then strangles the two demon birds in his arms until they turn unconscious and then he downward kicks on the fleeing demon bird¡¯s head. As all three demon birds get dropped to the ground, Saige then turns back his head at the remaining two.


    Gregory, Kelsey and Mai just look onward as Saige takes care of the remaining two in a vicious manor. After finishing, Saige walks back to Gregory, Kelsey and Mai, while rolling his shoulder in a stretch. ¡°That was.. good. Nice job, Saige.¡±, says Gregory in surprise. ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re welcome.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Let¡¯s continue on.¡±, says Gregory. They then go on scanning from room-to-room and they even manage to scan a courtyard with a red statue in the middle, and the red statue is a female half-humanoid half-bird person, with bird wings outstretched on her back. ¡°Whoa, who¡¯s that?¡±, asks Saige.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s a statue of Queen Melas. A demon general from the war, who preferred to be called, ¡°a queen¡±, amongst her under serving subjects. She also looks half human half demon, but don¡¯t be fooled, she¡¯s all demon.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Odd they¡¯d have a statue of her here.¡±, says Saige as he puts his arms behind his head. ¡°Yes. Odd. Let¡¯s keep going.¡±, says Gregory.


    They continue to scan from room-to-room, then they sneak up on one room, but then hide behind a door frame to the room. ¡°What the-...¡±, says Saige before getting his mouth covered by Gregory¡¯s hand. ¡°Shh. That¡¯s the queen of this keep.¡±, whispers Gregory. They see Queen Melas, with blue feathering, red skin and horns talking to a demon bird guard. ¡°This is the queen¡¯s main quarters, it¡¯s best we skip scanning this room.¡±, whispers Gregory.


    They then begin to head away from the room with Gregory leading the way. ¡°But didn¡¯t you say we need to scan al-¡±, asks Saige, right before getting cut off by Gregory. ¡°She¡¯s a Demon General serving under Azrael. She must be the reason why there¡¯s so much demon birds here, because it¡¯s her territory. We originally thought Azrael may be hiding here too, but after going through these scans, we may be wrong. What we need to do is report this pronto to General Richter so we can devise a strategy moving forward.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we kill her though?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°With better preparation, yes, but not right now. After gathering this knowledge, we need to leave.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°So we¡¯re finished scanning?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°I¡¯d say we¡¯ve scanned enough.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Oh good, cause this place has been giving me the creeps. Uh, I mean, nothing scares me.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Smooth.¡±, says Saige. The group continue to make their way back. ¡°Well that was mostly uneventful.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Sometimes, you just gotta be glad to live to fight another da-¡±, says Gregory, right before stopping himself and looking ahead to see a swarm of demon birds blocking the way where those demon bird bodies were that Saige took out earlier.


    ¡°They¡¯re blocking our only way out.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°CAAW! Intruders!¡±, says one of the demon birds. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige then go behind cover on each side of the archway leading into the room. ¡°Saige, we¡¯ll shoot, you think you can handle them?¡±, asks Gregory. Saige makes an irritated face, while cracking his knuckles and growing his horns and tail out. ¡°Sure.¡±, says Saige.


    Saige then runs out of cover and fights, jumping up and spinning sideways while tackling down multiple demon birds, making them land and feel sore from their wounds. Saige then runs back-and-forth on all fours, booting, kicking and scratching them back until they¡¯re all knocked out. Then he grows his claws for the final one and slashes it¡¯s head off. And with that, Saige deals with them all.


    Saige then stands up in the mess of bodies and turns his head back to the archway. ¡°The way¡¯s cleared guys.¡±, says Saige, but there¡¯s just silence as no one responds back. ¡°Guys...?¡±, asks Saige. He then walks back to the archway to check it out and sees Gregory, Kelsey and Mai are just gone. ¡°Where¡¯d ya go?¡±, says Saige.

 Chapter 18

    Saige is all alone in the demon keep. He walks from room-to-room, but can¡¯t find Gregory, Kelsey or Mai. ¡°Where the hell did they go?¡±, Saige says to himself. As he walks around he also notices there¡¯s no demon birds around. He¡¯s just alone.


    Meanwhile though, Gregory, Kelsey and Mai are actually alive, but just captured by demon birds, as their bodies are being lifted by the arms, and flown across the ground, and over to Queen Melas¡¯ quarters.


    They then get inside her quarters and it looks like a throne room, as she¡¯s found sitting in the red throne in the back. With a demon bird on each side of her. ¡°Melas.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°Yes, that is my name, but you three shall refer to me as, ¡°Queen Melas¡±. Hmm what specimens you have brought. These are the ones responsible for the deaths of those guards?¡±, says Queen Melas. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡±, says a demon bird holding one of the group. ¡°Hmm, I see. Now I wonder, now that they have been captured, what should we do with them?¡±, asks Queen Melas. ¡°CaaawW! Perhaps skin them alive!¡±, says a demon bird holding one of the group. ¡°Boil them and eat them.¡±, says another demon bird holding one of the group.


    ¡°Interesting offers, but I was thinking of extracting information from them. You will tell us how to get into Strife Village.¡±, says Queen Melas. ¡°You¡¯ll never get me to spiel.¡±, says Gregory.


    A demon bird beside her then whispers into Queen Melas¡¯ ear. ¡°You¡¯re saying the buff one and the purple haired one were in here some days ago?¡±, asks Queen Melas. The demon bird then nods. ¡°And you already had them take the woman to A-... somewhere else, but she somehow returned now?¡±, asks Queen Melas. The demon bird nods again.


    ¡°Well since she is back and didn¡¯t learn her lesson from the first time she managed to escape, then perhaps we should start torturing her. To show what happens to people who try to scout us out twice. Squeeze her head.¡±, says Queen Melas. The demon bird holding Mai lowers Mai to the ground by one talon on her arm. Mai goes to reach for her gun, but the demon bird quickly uses its other talon on the back of her head and squeezes. ¡°Aaaahhh!!¡±, screams Mai. ¡°No! Mai!¡±, shouts Gregory. ¡°Talk!¡±, demands Queen Melas.


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    Saige then suddenly walks on in and everyone stops what they¡¯re doing. ¡°Huh?¡±, says Queen Melas with a confused look on her face. ¡°Oh hey, there you guys are.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige!¡±, shouts Gregory. ¡°White Talon!¡±, shouts Kelsey. ¡°S-Sai.. ge?¡±, questions Mai. ¡°So who are you? And why was he missed!?¡±, asks Queen Melas as she slams a fist on her arm rest. ¡°W-We were getting torn apart by him, so we captured his friends instead. You see, he¡¯s a demon.¡±, says the flying demon bird holding Gregory.


    ¡°Oh really?¡±, says Queen Melas. ¡°Nah, I¡¯m not a demon. But I¡¯m still pretty deadly if you¡¯re hurting my friends.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Well then, let me be your opponent.¡±, says Queen Melas as she stands up from her throne. ¡°Queen Midas? Alright, I¡¯ll take you on!¡±, says Saige, as he gets in a boxing pose.


    ¡°That¡¯s, ¡° ¡®Queen¡¯ Melas¡±!¡±, shouts Queen Melas. She then flaps out the wings on her back, flies upward and flaps out one wave of wind at Saige. Saige jumps back and the wave of wind leaves a wide gash in the ground. She then sends out another one toward Saige and he ducks it, as it makes a lined gash through the wall. ¡°Whoa. What?¡±, says Saige. ¡°This¡¯ll be fun.¡±, says Queen Melas. The demon birds then move out of the way, while still holding onto Gregory, Kelsey and Mai as Queen Melas sends out more waves of wind.


    These waves of wind narrowly miss Saige as he dodges crazily for his life, trying not to get hit. ¡°Alright, looks like I need to use this¡±, says Saige as he takes out his handgun from his shorts¡¯ pocket. ¡°You think that little p-shooter will affect me?¡±, says Queen Melas, mockingly. ¡°Don¡¯t know, let¡¯s find out!¡±, says Saige, right before shooting the gun. He then ends up hitting her wing. Gregory, Kelsey and Mai cheer.


    Melas continues flying in one spot. ¡°Wait! Why are you still flying!? I shot your wing!¡±, says Saige. Melas just holds her stomach and laughs and the demon birds caw and laugh too.


    ¡°Ah, I am a Demon General you little worm! Like I said, your little p-shooter will do nothing to me!¡±, shouts Queen Melas. ¡°Ah, forget this thing then!¡±, shouts Saige as he throws the handgun to the ground. ¡°I¡¯ll take you on with pure hands!¡±, shouts Saige as he goes into a boxing pose again. Saige does a low-tone growl as he grows horns and a tail, then runs to the side of the room and tries jumping off the wall to get her, but misses. He then runs to the back of the room, on all fours, jumps off the wall again to tackle her, but she dodges easily. Saige then tries this a couple more times, but she dodges easily. Then when he does it again, Queen Melas ends up kneeing him in the gut, then sending him back down to the ground with a wave of wind.


    ¡°Saige!!¡±, Mai shouts. Saige is on the ground recovering, as he has a thin gash across his chest. ¡°Grrr! Come down here you coward!¡±, says Saige as his horns burst out little flames on the tip of them. ¡°Wait. Fireball!¡±, says Saige as he holds his open hand outward from himself. Queen Melas just looks at him in confusion. ¡°Fireball! Fireball!¡±, says Saige as he keeps trying to summon a fireball, but fails to do so. ¡°Grrr! Just come down here already!¡±, demands Saige. ¡°I don¡¯t have to listen to you. I am a Queen.¡±, says Queen Melas. She then sends three waves of wind down, as Saige tries to dodge at the last second and the impact sends him flying into a wall. ¡°Saige!¡±, shouts Mai. Saige then stands back up. ¡°It¡¯s fine! I¡¯m still fine!¡±. Saige just looks up toward Queen Melas as she smiles. Saige grits his teeth. ¡°How in the hell am I supposed to take her on?¡±, says Saige to himself.

 Chapter 19

    ¡°How am I supposed to take her down?¡±, says Saige to himself. There''s a moment of quietness as no one moves and Saige uses the time to actually think. Queen Melas then sends a wave of wind down at him, ¡°Gah!¡±, shouts Saige. There¡¯s now another thin gash on his chest and arms.


    Saige then tries to run to the side of the room. ¡°As much as I like to play with my food, this is rather getting tiredsome.¡±, says Queen Melas. ¡°Tired!? I¡¯ll show you tired!¡±, says Saige, right before dodging another wave of wind. ¡°And here I thought you would be a challenge for me, little Saige, but looks like you¡¯re all talk.¡±, says Queen Melas, right before sending out two waves of wind, which Saige dodges, but the impact sends him flying and rolling across the ground, back over to his handgun.


    Saige is on his back as he looks at his handgun, then he widens his eyes. Saige then grabs his handgun. ¡°You¡¯re really going to use that thing again. Well fine then, try it!¡±, says Queen Melas. Saige then aims over to where Gregory is and shoots at the demon bird holding him. ¡°CAW!¡±, says the hit demon bird. It then drops Gregory.


    ¡°Now Greg, fire at her!¡±, says Saige. Gregory shifts his arm into a cannon, as Saige shoots the demon birds holding Kelsey and Mai too. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m free!¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Grr, you imbeciles! No matter, I will just kill you all then.¡±, says Queen Melas. Gregory starts firing big shots at Queen Melas and one hits her wing and synches it. ¡°Aahh!¡±, says Queen Melas as she flies backward. ¡°Yeah, just like that! Don¡¯t let up!¡±, says Saige. Gregory just continues firing and Queen Melas dodges. Kelsey also joins in and uses her charged gun shots to try to hit Queen Melas too, but Queen Melas continues to dodge and even fly higher to escape the firing. She then stops at the ceiling. ¡°This infernal room could be the death of me.¡±, says Queen Males.


    ¡°Mai and Kelsey shoot the bird henchmen!¡±, says Saige. The two then aim at the demon birds that are beside Queen Melas¡¯ throne and they fall over from the gun fire. Then Gregory, Kelsey and Mai join together in shooting Queen Melas and they end up making her fall out of the air. ¡°Riiight! I got this one!¡±, says Saige, as he runs up to her falling position, with claws extended. Melas makes a ring of wind around herself and sends it flying out from herself in all directions and everyone gets thrown back from it, including Saige. ¡°Enough! CAAAAAW!!¡±, says Queen Melas, as she makes an ultra sonic screech that makes Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige cover their ears. In a few moments, they hear a group of birds flying in from the distance. ¡°Oh no, her screech is calling in the army from outside!¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Get them! Get them!! Skin them alive!!¡±, shouts Queen Melas.


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    Suddenly, many demon birds fly into the throne room and begin surrounding Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige. Mai then puts her handgun away, and takes her bat off her back and makes it transform into a sword. Gregory shifts his cannon back into a robotic fist. Before the four can make any moves, they get swarmed by the demon birds. Gregory punches some away and slams some into others, Kelsey is just shooting and trying to dodge, Mai is slashing her way through bird wings and necks, and Saige is using his extended claws to slash through bird wings and necks as well.


    Saige then sees Melas through the crowd and tries reaching her, but there¡¯s too much demon birds in the way. ¡°Melas!!¡±, shouts Saige. He then eventually reaches close to her, but gets swirled around by a sudden tornado that forms around her body and the tornado slams Saige into a wall across the room. ¡°You can try to reach me, but now my tornado wall is up. Sorry.¡±, says Queen Melas.


    ¡°Saige! You okay!?¡±, asks Mai. Suddenly, Mai then gets scratched from behind by a talon. ¡°Gah!¡±, shouts Mai. Talons also manage to scratch Gregory and Kelsey as well, as they yell in pain. ¡°In small numbers they may be weak, but together, at an army mass, they are ones to be reckoned with!!¡±, shouts Queen Melas.


    Gregory, Kelsey and Mai keep getting torn up by the talons. Saige¡¯s horns then grow more as he notices. ¡°I.. won¡¯t let you have your way with them!¡±, says Saige. Saige then grows a firey aura around him. And he then charges into the mass of demon birds. As demon birds try to claw at him, they catch on fire. ¡°I.. won¡¯t let you continue hurting them!¡±, Saige runs over, trying to gradually get through the group of demon birds. ¡°Face it, you have lost here. Now become food to my underlings.¡±, says Queen Melas. ¡°No, I¡¯m stopping this now, before you have the chance to kill them!¡±, says Saige as he rushes through the crowd. Saige then gets to her tornado and rips through it with his bare hands. ¡°How did you...!?¡±, says Queen Melas as Saige grabs her throat. ¡°That¡¯s.. enough!!¡±, Saige then rips Queen Melas head off from her body.


    The demon birds then stop as they see Queen Melas fall over, headless. And Saige stands there, breathing heavily as his fiery aura disappears and he looks at his hands in confusion. ¡°Queen Melas!!!¡±, one demon bird says. ¡°CAW! She¡¯s been beheaded!!!¡±, says another demon bird. The demon birds then scramble around as Saige makes it back to Gregory, Kelsey and Mai. ¡°Saige?¡±, Mai says as she¡¯s badly wounded and scratched all over. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s just get out of here before they realize we¡¯re still alive. Can you walk?¡±, asks Saige. Mai closes her eyes. ¡°Mai?¡±, says Saige.


    Gregory just grabs Kelsey and Mai and puts them over his shoulders. ¡°I got them, let¡¯s go.¡±, says Gregory. Saige then nods to him and leads the way out as Gregory follows behind holding Kelsey and Mai. They run and make it to the underground route without the demon birds noticing, due to the demon birds being in a panic. Moments later, they then make it to Old Betty, the junker buggy, and Gregory places Kelsey and Mai in the back seats, as the two seem unconscious.


    ¡°Hop in. Saige you take passenger. Mai and Kelsey seem to be out of it. They¡¯ll have to stay in the back.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Wish I could be more excited about this.¡±, says Saige. Saige looks at Kelsey and Mai with worry. Gregory and Saige then hop in the front seats and the four of them drive off together.

 Chapter 20

    Gregory is just in the bar with General Richter, with them sitting at the front of the bar, as Gregory is just finishing briefing General Richter on what happened at Outpost 0. ¡°And then.. he ripped her head clean off.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°But that data too...?¡±, asks General Richter. ¡°Mai got the scans, but you should¡¯ve seen Saige out there on the field yourself. It was kind of amazing.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Well.. since Saige set through to accomplish this task and with the given bonus of taking out Demon General Melas, I¡¯d like to welcome Saige on our search force¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Thank you sir.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Give thanks to Saige.¡±, says General Richter.


    Later on, Gregory, Mai, Kelsey, Saige, Jax and Roman are sitting around a table at the bar with full beer glasses. Mai and Kelsey have bandages on their arms, over their scars. Saige and Roman bump beer glasses then both of them drink. Saige then starts coughing and places his beer glass down. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Saige? Never had a pint of beer before?¡±, asks Roman. ¡°This is my first one.¡±, says Saige. ¡°It¡¯s an acquired taste¡±, Mai says right before drinking a bit then stopping, then continuing to talk. ¡°You¡¯ll probably get used to it.¡± ¡°Alright alright.¡±, says Jax. ¡°Here¡¯s to Saige! Slayer of Demon Generals!¡±, yells Roman.


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    They all then bump glasses together. ¡°Guys guys, come on, don¡¯t give me all the credit.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Hey let¡¯s remember it was a team effort too.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah, couldn¡¯t get Melas down without Greg.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Aww¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Cheers again to Saige! This party is for you sonny! Cheers! And welcome to the crew!¡±, says Roman. They all bump glasses again.


    Meanwhile, at a cave in a mountain somewhere. A demon bird flies into the cave and lands in front of a man in the shadows, sitting on a rock throne. ¡°Azrael, sir...¡± the demon bird says. ¡°What is it?¡±, says Azrael. ¡°Queen Melas she.. she¡¯s been slain!¡±, says the demon bird. ¡°Was it by the humans?¡±, asks Azrael. ¡°Yes, with the help of a demon on their side.¡±, says the demon bird. ¡°You said a demon? Working for humans? Was it enslaved?¡±, asks Azrael. ¡°No, in fact he looked human himself with white long hair and light skin, but he has the ability to grow horns, claws and a tail. And he had the ability to control fire. He also seemed to work with the humans completely of his own free will.¡±, says the demon bird.


    ¡°Interesting. I want to know where this demon is residing now.¡±, says Azrael. ¡°Currently should be residing at Strife Village.¡±, says the demon bird.


    ¡°I see. I will keep a watchful eye over this demon. As for the other demon birds, tell them to continue keeping watch over Outpost 0. One more thing, does this demon have a name?¡±, says Azrael. ¡°¡°Saige¡± is what I heard, sir.¡±, says the demon bird.


    ¡°¡°Saige¡±. Yes, I will keep a watchful eye on this ¡°Saige¡±, for the time being.¡±, says Azrael.

 Chapter 21

    Kelsey, Mai and Saige are in an open clearing in a forest near Strife Village. Saige¡¯s horns and tail are out, but his horns are shorter than usual, as he stands with his hand stretched outward infront of himself, while Kelsey and Mai stand to the side watching. ¡°Now just try to form a fireball.¡±, says Mai. Saige tries, as his arm shakes abit from intense concentration, but nothing happens. ¡°Damn, come on already!¡±, says Saige. ¡°You can do it White Talon!¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Do you have to keep calling me White Talon?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°It¡¯s your hero name! It¡¯s what you should truly be referred to by. The same way I prefer you to call me, ¡°The Blue Phoenix¡±.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Not happening.¡±, says Mai and Saige in unison.


    Gregory suddenly walks up to them. ¡°What¡¯s going on here now?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Saige-¡±, says Mai, right before getting cut off by Kelsey. ¡°The White Talon has a superpower and we¡¯re trying to activate it!¡±. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re trying to see if you can unlock his demon magic. Well try that later, we got a mission.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Really? That soon?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yes. Although it isn¡¯t a search for Azrael this time. Follow me, General Richter wants to explain it to us personally. ¡°General Richter?¡±, says Saige.


    Given time, the four of them reach Gregory¡¯s quarters and are with General Richter. Kelsey, Mai and Saige sit on the couch as Gregory and General Richter stand in front of the three. ¡°The mission is that there¡¯s trouble going down in Creed Town and...¡±, says General Richter, right before getting cut off by a widened eyed Saige. ¡°Creed Town? Oh no. I¡¯m not going back to that psycho place!¡±. ¡°Hmm?¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Excuse him sir, Saige¡¯s originally from Creed Town.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Oh I know. So it¡¯ll be good, cause you¡¯re already acquainted with the place.¡±, says General Richter.


    ¡°Sir, to put it kindly, those lunatics kicked me out and I¡¯m not willing to stroll back in.¡±, says Saige. General Richter then straightens up and puts his hands behind his back, like a soldier. ¡°Listen Saige, as long as you¡¯re part of our task force, you¡¯ll go to any mission we put you on, no arguments! Do I make myself clear!?¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Ah, but these pricks...¡±, says Saige, right before stopping, after noticing the front door open.


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    The front door opens and a light-skinned middle-aged man with well groomed brown hair, black pants, black long sleeve shirt and a preacher¡¯s collar walks in. He then looks at Saige with an unamused face. ¡°Father Terrance.¡±, says Saige, addressing the man by his name. ¡°Demon.¡±, says Father Terrance, addressing Saige. ¡°Not a demon.¡±, says Saige. ¡°In denial still I see.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Still brainwashing the children into your twisted religion?¡±, says Saige. ¡°¡°Twisted¡±? More like, ¡°helpful¡±. Maybe if you were more dedicated you wouldn¡¯t have turned out the way you are.¡±, says Father Terrance.


    ¡°Who let this bastard walk in here?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°I did and he is on our side, Saige.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Our side!?¡±, says Saige. Gregory then chimes in, ¡°Saige he¡¯s an official voice on our leading council and is leader of Creed Town.¡±. Saige takes a few seconds to ponder, then speaks, ¡°¡°Mayor Terrance¡±!? Since when the hell did that happen!?¡±. ¡°Since four months ago.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Are you sure you didn¡¯t bribe the town? Oh wait they¡¯re all sick in the head, why am I surprised.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Enough.. insulting each other. Listen Saige, we¡¯re tight on people. And Creed Town is dealing with a demon problem. They call them the Beast Tamer. They¡¯ve been stealing pets in the night.¡±, says General Richter. Saige pauses for a few seconds before talking. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°There¡¯s a belief they could be connected to Azrael.¡±, says General Richter. Saige sighs. ¡°I need your group to head over to Creed Town, pronto, and deal with this Beast Tamer. That is the mission and I expect you to do it. Is that clear?¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Crystal.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll take our leave.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°It was.. I¡¯d say, ¡°a pleasure to see you again¡±, but I¡¯d be lying.¡±, says Father Terrance toward Saige. ¡°Same to you.¡±, says Saige toward Father Terrance. General Richter then exits Gregory¡¯s quarters with Father Terrance walking behind him. ¡°Going to Creed Town, you gotta be kidding me.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Not much we can do about it Saige, it was a direct order from General Richter.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Greg, come on, I know you can sense Father Terrance is evil.¡±, says Saige. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna hear more about it. Saige, will you cooperate?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Over my dead body! Screw that guy!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige...¡±, says Gregory. ¡°He can eat crap for all I care!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige...¡±, says Mai. ¡°What!?¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°What if I said it¡¯ll be okay, cause all four of us will be there. And we don¡¯t have to be there long, just for one day.¡±, says Mai. Saige folds his arms, but ponders it. ¡°You¡¯re saying you can¡¯t last one day there?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Alright fine.. I¡¯ll go. But, if I get poisoned there, I told you so.¡±, says Saige.

 Chapter 22

    Old Betty, the junker buggy, pulls up to a town with an arched entrance way saying, ¡°Creed Town¡±, on it, and people walking around in black gowns and dress pants. Inside Old Betty is Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige, as Kelsey and Saige are in the back, Gregory¡¯s at the wheel and Mai is in the passenger seat.


    In the back seat, Saige has his arms folded, while having a grumpy look on his face. Everyone then steps out of the car, except for Saige.


    Mai walks up to Saige¡¯s side of the car and knocks on his door. ¡°Saige come on, get out.¡±, says Mai. Saige sighs, gradually opens the door, then walks out with his hands in his pockets. Saige then looks around at the front and at the archway. ¡°Can¡¯t believe I¡¯m back here.¡±, says Saige to himself. The four then walk in under the archway and enter the town. Upon entering the town, they stop as towns people have stopped talking and walking around. They look toward Saige in partial horror. Saige looks at the crowd, then he tries looking to his side, away from them.


    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige then get greeted by a church preacher. ¡°Welcome to Creed Town. I¡¯ll be your escort. Father Paul is my name.¡±, says the church preacher. ¡°Nice to meet you Father Paul. We were just wondering where Father Terrance was.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Oh he is just on the way to where I¡¯ll be showing you. Now what¡¯s your names?¡±, asks Father Paul. Gregory and Mai say their names. ¡°Blue-...!¡±, Kelsey says before getting cut off by Mai saying, ¡°Kelsey. Her name is Kelsey.¡±. ¡°Aww.¡±, says Kelsey. And then it comes down to Saige. ¡°My name is.. Saige¡±, says Saige.


    The towns people start gossiping, while side-eyeing Saige. Father Paul just keeps a smiling face on, but it seems a bit scary after hearing Saige¡¯s name. ¡°Oh hello Saige, I did not realize it was you.¡±, says Father Paul. ¡°Yeah.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Are you a part of the demon hunting forces now?¡±, asks Father Paul. ¡°Just about.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Good. Let me lead you all to Father Terrance.¡±, says Father Paul.


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    Father Paul leads them through the town, which looks quaint, and somehow old timey, as most women walk around in black dresses or classic maid uniforms, while the men generally wear dress pants and dress shirts. Some people, without looking at Saige, just look at Mai and Kelsey¡¯s clothing and snicker. Mai notices the snickering. ¡°Um. Why does it seem like they¡¯re laughing at us?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Oh it¡¯s just that your getup is unusual to our town. You see, in Creed Town, we generally dress with class-...¡±, says Father Paul, before getting cut off by Mai. ¡°Excuse me?¡±. ¡°Ahem. Sorry, I meant we tend to dress in a more classic up-standing way. When demon hunters come to our town, we generally expect the soldier''s attire, but not how you or your friend in the helmet and cape are dressed¡±. Mai squints her eyes in annoyance. ¡°I guess I can get it.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t mean to offend.¡±, says Father Paul.


    They then arrive at a big church. ¡°This is our central office. Let me take you inside.¡±, says Father Paul. Father Paul leads them inside and they reach a hall, with Father Terrance just coming down the hall. ¡°Terrance, four guests are here for you.¡±, says Father Paul. ¡°Ah you four have finally arrived. I¡¯ll take it from here Paul.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Thank you Terrance. Well I¡¯ll be on my way.¡±, says Father Paul, before leaving. Father Paul exits out the front doors and closes the doors behind himself. The group can then hear abit of chatter after the doors close. ¡°Can you believe Saige¡¯s back?¡±, says a woman. ¡°The kid cretin? Oh I know.¡±, says Father Paul.


    ¡°Let me show you to your quarters.¡±, says Father Terrance. In due time, after walking some way into the church, they reach another hallway, with four wooden doors. ¡°This is where you¡¯ll be staying. Your rooms are in proper condition, it¡¯s just up to you to choose now. We even have a room for you Saige, although it¡¯s more than you deserve.¡±, says Father Terrance. Saige¡¯s about to say something, but then Gregory cuts him off. ¡°Alright listen here Father Terrance. Saige, out of the goodness of his heart, has agreed to help here, so I want to hear no more slander from your mouth about him.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Well well, alright then. Anyway, here are your rooms, I¡¯ll be off doing paperwork. Good bye.¡±, says Father Terrance. He then walks back down the hall, leaving their sight.


    ¡°Kind of a dick, but at least he got us our rooming.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°For a day, right? We¡¯re just staying a day?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°It depends how long it takes us to find this Beast Tamer. For now, we should gather clues from the town¡¯s folk about what they know about the Beast Tamer. First place to ask though, would be Father Terrance. I¡¯ll ask him questions while the three of you hit the town.¡±, says Gregory. Saige sighs. ¡°Fine.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Let¡¯s travel together so Saige you don¡¯t have to feel awkward in town.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Thanks I guess.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s split up then gang.¡±, says Gregory.

 Chapter 23

    Kelsey, Mai and Saige walk through town and get shifty looks from everyone, as the people also gossip while eyeing them. ¡°Well this is warm and comforting.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Don¡¯t worry White Talon, if they try anything, I will protect you.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Thanks, but I think I¡¯ll be fine.. I hope.¡±, says Saige as he looks around at the people.


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s go around asking questions.¡±, says Mai. The team goes around for a while asking questions from person-to-person to groups of people about knowledge on the Beast Tamer. As they do, Saige is the one not saying anything as, mostly Mai does the talking. Some people even walk away as they¡¯re approached. Generally though, they get no luck from anyone on the location of the Beast Tamer.


    Eventually, the group stop at a river near the town and sit at it. ¡°So far, no one we talked to has any information.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Either that or they wanna keep it from us, cause I¡¯m around.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Alright, that doesn¡¯t make any sense Saige. If they wanted help with this Beast Tamer, regardless who you are, I feel they¡¯d want to help us help them.¡±, says Mai.


    A voice in the distance then calls out, ¡°Saige?¡±. The group turn their heads to the direction and they see a redheaded woman with long curly hair, wearing a classic black dress. ¡°Who¡¯s that, I wonder?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Mary?¡±, says Saige with a hint of surprise to his voice, as he stands up.


    Mary then runs over and hugs him. Mary then grabs his hands and holds them. ¡°I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re okay! And your hair got longer, I see.¡±, says Mary. Kelsey and Mai look at eachother.


    In the next moment, they¡¯re all sitting on the river side together. ¡°So how long have you known Saige?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Oh me and Saige go way back. We used to hang out as kids.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Hm, I see.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Mary¡¯s been my best friend for awhile.¡±, says Saige while having an embarrassed smirk on his face. ¡°How come you¡¯ve never mentioned her?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Yeah, didn¡¯t you say all the people from this dead end town were crappy and scummy, and their religion sucked an-¡±, says Kelsey, right before Saige uses his hands to cover her mouth.


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    ¡°Hey hey now! Watch it! Ha ha Mary I didn¡¯t mean it.¡±, says Saige. ¡°So I¡¯m crappy and scummy?¡±, says Mary. ¡°NO! No no! I didn¡¯t say all that.. about you anyway.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Oh Saige I know. I¡¯m just kidding around.¡±, says Mary. Saige then breathes out in relief.


    ¡°But do you really think that about our religion?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°Hey what is the religion of Creed Town anyway, I never understood?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°I can tell it. I still remember.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Long ago, even before the Human and Demon War, there was a war of Human Paladins and Demons. Among them was a great Paladin named, Thessia. Who slayed many demons in her way and, just to shorten the story, lead many soldiers to battle and won those battles. While using strength from the Goddess Gloria. Then, one day, Thessia fought the Demon King and took his head, but at the cost of her own life. Now people praise Thessia and Gloria, and believe one day Thessia will rise back to modern day to vanquish the current day Demon King. And that¡¯s basically the religion.¡±, says Saige.


    Kelsey and Mai just look at Saige in wonder. ¡°What?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Wow, just didn¡¯t think you¡¯d come in handy to be that knowledgeable about something.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah.¡±, says Kelsey.


    ¡°What¡¯s that mean!? Eh you calling me dumb!?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Only a little!¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Only a little¡±!? What the heck!¡±, says Saige. Mary laughs. ¡°Saige, I see you haven¡¯t changed. I¡¯m glad.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Heh yeah.¡±, says Saige.


    Mai then lightly knocks on Saige¡¯s head. ¡°Still as hard-headed as ever, right?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Oh definitely.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Alright you two, that¡¯s enough.¡±, says Saige. Mai and Mary giggle abit. Mai then straightens up and faces Mary in a sudden reminder of their mission. ¡°Oh wait, Mary, do you know anything about this Beast Tamer?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Actually, I do, if you want to know. You see, I believe they took my pet hedgehog.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Hedgehog?¡±, says Kelsey and Mai in unison.


    ¡°Yeah. His name was Pincer.¡±, says Mary. ¡°I remember Pincer. The Beast Tamer stole him?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Like I said, I just believe so. One day, in the middle of the night, as I was playing with him, I heard something that sounded like flute music being played and then he ran away from me. When I tried to catch up to him, he was already gone.¡±, says Mary. ¡°I¡¯ll help get Pincer back.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Really?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°Sure we will, right guys?¡±, says Saige. ¡°You mean girls.¡±, says Mai, correcting Saige. ¡°It¡¯ll be our pleasure to save Pincer!¡±, says Kelsey, while standing up, with a raised fist. ¡°Thank you so much.¡±, says Mary, with a smile.

 Chapter 24

    Kelsey, Mai, Mary and Saige walk through town, heading back to the church the group is staying at. Suddenly, they hear someone behind them talk. ¡°Look, something mangey is being dragged through town.¡±, the first man says. ¡°Nevermind it¡¯s just Saige and Mary.¡±, the other man says.


    Saige turns around to address them, with an unamused face. He then sighs. There¡¯s two men standing there about Saige¡¯s age. One has a bald head and dress clothes on, while the other has a buzzcut and preacher clothes on. ¡°Cain and Jacob, I should¡¯ve known. What do you two want?¡±, says Saige. ¡°We were just hearing you were back in town and wanted to see you.¡±, says Cain, the one with the bald head. ¡°People were saying you were a demon hunter of sorts now.¡±, says Jacob, the one with the buzzcut.


    ¡°And what¡¯s it to you two?¡±, asks Saige, with a now grumpy face on. ¡°You better leave Saige alone.¡±, says Mary, who''s moved to anger. ¡°Or what? Your boyfriend is going to start trouble again?¡±, says Cain. People start to whisper around them, abit louder than usual. ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±, asks Mai, looking around. Kelsey just shrugs.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t overstay your welcome, because you¡¯re not welcome here. Remember that.¡±, says Jacob. ¡°I get it.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Now run along to the central church now. And I do hope your cohorts are keeping you in line.¡±, says Cain. Saige sprouts horns out of his head, just a bit, but they just come out as nubs. ¡°Ha and there it is.¡±, says Cain. ¡°The monster we know and hate.¡±, says Jacob. ¡°You know, If you wanna start something...!¡±, yells Saige, right before stopping himself. Cain and Jacob take a step back.


    ¡°Now Saige that¡¯s enough.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t listen to those two, let''s just get out of here.¡±, says Mary. They then begin to walk away toward the church. ¡°Haha, that¡¯s right run!¡±, says Cain. ¡°Go back to where you came from!¡±, says Jacob.


    ¡°Real jerks. Saige are you alright?¡±, asks Mai. Saige just walks, saying nothing for a few seconds, before speaking. ¡°Let¡¯s just get back to the church.¡±, says Saige. They then go inside the church and decide to just sit in the main hall together. ¡°They really got on your nerves huh?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°This isn¡¯t the first time. Infact they¡¯re responsible for constantly bullying Saige and turning people on him.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Really?¡±, says Mai. ¡°It¡¯s whatever.¡±, says Saige.


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    ¡°It¡¯s not whatever, they¡¯re the reason Saige got kicked out of town!¡±, Mary says, as she stands up with her fists balled up. ¡°Really!? How so?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°It all started one day when Cain and Jacob were picking on me for hanging out with Saige and they stole a hair bow I was wearing and began tossing it around between eachother. When Saige caught wind of what was happening, he chased them around town and in the chase the three of them broke a few things along the way. Finally, when Saige caught up to Jacob and Cain, Jacob had a nasty trip and broke his leg. The blame then all fell on Saige and people thought he broke Jacob¡¯s leg and caused all the town damage. From that, Saige got kicked out of town.¡±, says Mary.


    ¡°That¡¯s so bull! Is that really the reason he got kicked out of town?¡±, asks Mai, as she stands up with her fists balled up. ¡°Honestly, people resented Saige for awhile, but that incident cemented it into people¡¯s minds. And they thought he was too dangerous to be left living amongst them.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Wow.¡±, says Mai.


    ¡°You should beat up Jacob and Cain for real this time.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°No, that would only make things worse. The best I can do is find the Beast Tamer, stop him, then get the hell out of this place as soon as I can. No offense to you Mary.¡±, says Saige. ¡°No. I understand.¡±, says Mary. Gregory then enters their section of the hall.


    ¡°So is there a reason why you¡¯re all just in the hall? Also hi there.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Hi.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Hey Greg, this is just Mary, my childhood friend.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Oh well nice to meet you. Sorry Mary, but we got some things to discuss. Do you mind uh...¡±, says Gregory. ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s already getting late. I should be heading home soon. I¡¯ll see you later Saige and uh...¡±, says Mary.


    ¡°Oh yeah, my name is Mai.¡±, says Mai. ¡°And I¡¯m The Blue...¡±, says Kelsey right before getting cut off. ¡°Kelsey¡¯s her name.¡±, says Mai. ¡°I see, well it was nice to meet you two and to see you again Saige. See ya and take care.¡±, says Mary. The group wave goodbye to her as she leaves.


    ¡°Alright, most info I got from Father Terrance was that the Beast Tamer strikes at night. What about you three?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°We got the same info.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Also, the Beast Tamer apparently can use special music to lure animals away.¡±, says Mai. ¡°I see. Let¡¯s wait till night, then we¡¯ll go and scout. Something tells me, we could find the Beast Tamer by tonight.¡±, says Gregory.

 Chapter 25

    It¡¯s now evening, nearing nighttime, in Creed Town. Our scene takes place just in the forest near the front entrance of Creed Town. Kelsey comes out from behind a tree within the forest, then sneaks her way behind another tree, comes out from behind the tree, does a few kicks toward the air, then sneaks her way behind another tree. She then peeks out from behind that tree, looking all-around her.


    Mai just stands there at a close distance, just looking at Kelsey, with a hand on her hip. Mai then chimes in, ¡°What the hell are you doing Kelsey?¡±. Kelsey responds, ¡°¡±Kelsey¡± is my civilian name. When it¡¯s mission mode you call me, ¡°The Blue Phoenix¡±.¡± Mai responds back, ¡°Whatever you say Kelsey.¡±. Kelsey corrects, ¡°That¡¯s Blue Phoenix.¡±. Mai responds back again, ¡°Anyway Kelsey, I don¡¯t see the Beast Tamer here. I wonder how the boys must be doing back in town.¡±.


    Meanwhile with Gregory and Saige, they walk through the quiet desolate town, just looking left and right. Saige then breaks the silence, ¡°So far nothing.¡±. Gregory responds, ¡°I¡¯m sure we''re bound to hear something.¡±. Saige says back to him, ¡°What do you think the sound of this Beast Tamer sounds like, anyway? Is it really just a flute?¡±. Gregory states, ¡°That¡¯s what you said your friend said. So we¡¯ll listen out for that.¡±


    The two groups keep searching as a few hours pass by. Saige states, ¡°We¡¯ve been patrolling for a while now.¡± Gregory is busy looking around himself, but breaks routine to talk, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a real shame we¡¯re not picking up any noises.¡±.


    Meanwhile with Kelsey and Mai. Kelsey has her arms hung down low as she walks. She then talks and says, ¡°I, the Blue Phoenix, have not detected anything yet.¡±. ¡°We haven¡¯t detected anything for like two hours now.¡±, says Mai.


    Suddenly, there¡¯s the sound of a flute playing one long high note. ¡°You hear that flute?¡±, asks Mai. Kelsey and Mai look around trying to face the location the flute sound is coming from.


    Meanwhile with Gregory and Saige... ¡°A flute. Come on.¡±, says Gregory. Gregory leads the way as they both run toward the forest. Eventually, Gregory and Saige meet up with Kelsey and Mai, as both groups meet in the middle of the forest, across from a guy that¡¯s hunched over looking like the crossbreed between a humanoid and a toad. The guy then speaks, ¡°It seems I¡¯ve brought unwanted company.¡± Gregory then speaks, ¡°A demon. Are you the one behind the taking of the pets in town?¡±. ¡°Perhaps.¡±, the guy responds.


    Saige then cuts in, ¡°¡°Perhaps¡±? What¡¯s that mean, are you behind the taking of the animals or not!?¡± ¡°Ahh, he¡¯s scary.¡±, the guy responds. Saige then takes one stomp forward. ¡°Alright alright! Yes it was me.¡±, the guy responds. Gregory responds, ¡°Thought so.¡±. ¡°But you¡¯ll never catch me!¡±, the guy says, right before playing a long low note on his flute. A great big crowd of animals then come out from behind the guy, as the animals have red eyes. In response, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige ready their weapons.


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    Mai then reminds the group, ¡°Wait watch where you attack or you¡¯ll hurt the animals.¡±. The guy then runs off behind the animals. ¡°Damnit. Oh hey-!¡±, says Saige as he comes up in front of a hedgehog. ¡°It¡¯s Pincer. Hey hey Pincer, remember me!?¡±, says Saige. Pincer then begins to transform, taking on the appearance of bigger bodied hedgehog, the size of a bear. ¡°Pincer?¡±, says Saige. Pincer then growls and tries slashing at Saige, but Saige dodges in time.


    Two brown furred dogs nearby then turn into two black fuzzy furred demonic dogs and start trying to bite at Kelsey and Mai. Gregory looks over in surprise, then suddenly gets uppercutted by a demon bear and sent flying back, hitting a tree. ¡°Pincer, snap out of it, come on! It¡¯s me!¡±, says Saige. Pincer charges at Saige then tackles him to the ground and puts two paws down on Saige, as Saige grips them and grows horns while trying to tussle. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna hurt you man!¡±, says Saige.


    The guy from earlier, who ran away is now on a tree branch, watching Saige¡¯s fight and saying, ¡°Another demon?¡±. Saige then successfully pushes Pincer off of himself, but then gets hit in the side of the face by Pincer and sent flying into a tree, snapping the tree over, while getting knocked out. Meanwhile, Kelsey and Mai are just running from demon dogs, as Gregory gets hit back again by the demon bear, then tries to shield himself by putting his arms up. ¡°That¡¯s enough! I believe you¡¯ve had enough of a taste for tonight. Come along my animal pals!¡±, says the guy in the tree. The animals then back up and disappear into the darkness of the forest as the guy hops away through the trees. ¡°Urn. Damn.¡±, says Gregory.


    Later on, it eventually gets to morning time, as Saige sits by the river side of Creed Town. ¡°Pincer... how am I supposed to get him back?¡±, says Saige to himself. ¡°Hey Saigeee!¡±, says Mary as Saige turns his head and sees Mary waving from the distance at him, with a big smile on her face. ¡°Mary, oh hey!¡±, says Saige, as he waves back.


    Skip to later and Mary is now sitting beside Saige, after Saige told her everything that happened. ¡°And that¡¯s what happened.¡±, says Saige. ¡°So he turned into a monster and fought you?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°Yeah. Little guy got me good.¡±, says Saige. ¡°That¡¯s awful. So.. what do you plan to do now?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°We¡¯re taking them on the next night, but I¡¯m thinking... we attack the guy before he has a chance to play his flute this time.¡±, says Saige. Saige then cracks his knuckles and says, ¡°Then we¡¯ll get him.¡±. ¡°Be careful.¡±, Mary warns. ¡°I¡¯ll try to be.¡±, says Saige


    Mary then is about to say something, hesitates, but then says it anyway. ¡°Just.. Just have faith. And I¡¯m sure you can come on top.¡± ¡°Heh, I abandoned my faith some time ago.¡±, says Saige. ¡°I thought so. Kinda difficult for you to be a follower of Thessia, when every follower in town gave you a reason not to be. But I still say to have faith, Saige. Even when times get hard.¡±, says Mary. Saige pauses to take in what she said, then responds, ¡°I¡¯ll consider it. By the way, so what¡¯s Cain and Jacob been up to while I¡¯ve been gone?¡±. ¡°Why do you care about them?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°I don¡¯t, but I noticed Jacob has a preacher outfit now.¡±, says Saige. ¡°He¡¯s apprenticing under Father Paul.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Damn, really? Huh.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Yeah. And Cain is planning to do the same one day.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Those two being church preachers. Ah, I already hate it.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Yeah.¡±, says Mary.


    The two watch the river for awhile, then Mary speaks, while looking down at the river. ¡°Saige, after you got.. exiled from the town I got really worried about you. I hope you managed well on your own.¡± ¡°Y-Yeah I managed well. I met a friend outside who helped me survive, and I hunted my own food.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Really?¡±, asks Mary ¡°Yeah. Ate some lizards and mice.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Lizards and mice!?¡±, says Mary in shock. ¡°Um.. yeah.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Oh, I can¡¯t believe that happened to you. Having to scounge on lizards and mice.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Yeah, but it.. was fine.¡±, says Saige.


    The two continue to look at the river, then Mary stands up. ¡°Well, I gotta get going. My dad will probably be wondering where I am. I¡¯m supposed to help him with work today.¡±, says Mary. ¡°I¡¯d say tell him I said, ¡°hi¡±, but I know he hates me. And wouldn¡¯t wanna see me hanging with you.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Yeaah. But I¡¯ll try to see you again Saige.¡±, says Mary. ¡°Yeah, see you.¡±, says Saige.


    Mary waves goodbye and leaves. Saige sits at the river side, then facepalms himself and says, ¡°Why¡¯d I have to tell her I¡¯ve been snacking on lizards and mice?¡±

 Chapter 26

    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are in the forest at evening time. They stand in a group together discussing about the Beast Tamer, then Gregory speaks, ¡°Last time he showed up in the forest, so this time we¡¯ll gain more advantage by surprising him in the forest with all four of us here.¡± Saige then responds a, ¡°Hmm.¡±. ¡°What is it?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Still just wondering if he¡¯ll show up this time.¡±, says Saige. Gregory then speaks, ¡°Well we got no bait, but we have determination.¡±. ¡°Yeah!¡±, says Kelsey.


    Gregory then whispers, ¡°Just let¡¯s not make too much noise or else he¡¯ll catch us off guard.¡±. Kelsey whispers back, ¡°Yeah.¡±. They go on to wait as more hours pass by.


    Suddenly, they hear a high note flute. ¡°The Beast Tamer.¡±, says Kelsey. The team then gradually head toward the direction of the flute sound, while continuously hiding among the trees. Finally, they reach him and each team member gradually go to surround him, still hiding behind trees to cloak their position. Suddenly, they go in to attack the Beast Tamer, but Pincer comes down from a tree, in their transformed form, and lands behind the Beast Tamer and growls. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige jump back, in surprise. ¡°Damn it!¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°So you thought you would get the jump on me. Get them now!¡±, says the Beast Tamer, as two demonic dogs and a demon bear come out. Pincer then growls louder, as Saige runs up to Pincer, grabs Pincer by the front quills and wrestles a bit. Saige then speaks back to his group, ¡°I¡¯ll try to hold off Pincer. You three go after the Beast Master!¡±. ¡°Okay!¡±, says Mai.


    Mai immediately takes off her gun and goes to shoot at the Beast Master, and a demon dog ends up jumping in front of the shot and gets shot in the leg. The demon dog yelps. ¡°Oh no! Poor doggy.¡±, says Mai with concern. ¡°I would feel more bad for yourself than it right now.¡±, says the Beast Tamer. The demon dog growls, then barks at Mai and chases after her. Then the other demon dog chases after Kelsey. Kelsey and Mai run away.


    Gregory gets confronted by the, now standing, demon bear again. Then before the demon bear has a chance, Gregory runs up, grabs the demon bear by the paws, then tosses it to the side. Gregory then shoots multiple quick arm cannon blasts at the Beast Tamer and the Beast Tamer swings through the trees and around the shots like a monkey. Gregory responds, ¡°What in the...?¡±, then gets kicked in the face by the Beast Tamer. Gregory falls over over as the Beast Tamer lands, twirls his flute and poses with one hand out infront while holding his flute behind him.


    The Beast Tamer then speaks, ¡°Oh I know how to defend myself too. Allow me to introduce myself... I¡¯m ex-demon general Sealus.¡±. ¡°A Demon General?¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Ex-Demon General. After the war, there was not much for me to do so I took on the task of obtaining animal friends to keep me company. At first, I controlled hundreds of demons with my flute, but then I thought into using the power of my flute to ta- ahh AHH!!, says, Sealus, right before getting picked up from behind by Saige, into a hug from behind.


    ¡°Enough talking out of you!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Wh-What!? But what happened to that Pincer pet!?¡±, asks Sealus. ¡°Knocked them out.¡±, says Saige, as Saige turns Sealus around to show a de-transformed Pincer on the ground*. ¡°Ah AHH! OH NO NO NO!¡±, yells Sealus. ¡°And now to take care of you!¡±, says Saige. Saige then bends over backward and suplexes Sealus into the ground, knocking him out cold. After doing so, Saige looks around and sees how the animals chasing his team around then stop and their bodies transform back to normal. Except the demon-bear, which just looks around, then runs off into the darkness of the forest. Saige then speaks, ¡°Huh, that was easy. So what do we do with him now?¡±. ¡°Probably kill him.¡±, says Kelsey, coming from the distance with Mai. ¡°No, we can¡¯t.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Exactly, he may have clues on Azrael¡¯s whereabouts. I have an idea, anyone have any rope?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°We¡¯d have to go back to town to find some.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Alright. Mai, you go back to town and find some while the three of us keep this demon general company.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Got it.¡±, says Mai.


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    Later on, Sealus is tied up against a tree as he wakes up. ¡°Huh?¡±, says Sealus. ¡°Rise and shine demon. Remember us?¡±, says Gregory, as him, Kelsey, Mai and Saige stand around Sealus. ¡°Gaaahaahh!¡±, yells Sealus. ¡°Now you¡¯re gonna answer some questions for us.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°Also, we got your flute.¡±, says Saige as he¡¯s holding onto the flute and Pincer. ¡°Damn it all.¡±, says Sealus. ¡°So you gonna cooperate with us?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Depends, will you kill me?¡±, asks Sealus. ¡°Depends on how much you tell us.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Eek! Okay, what do you wanna know?¡±, asks Sealus. ¡°First off, where is Azrael?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°You want to know where Azrael is!?¡±, asks Sealus. ¡°Yeah, we do.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you that!¡±, says Sealus. ¡°Why not?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°For obvious reasons why! He¡¯ll have me killed if I do!, says Sealus. ¡°What if we said we¡¯d put you under protection?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Well- wait WAIT WAIT NO I WASN¡¯T GOING TO SAY ANYTHING!¡±, says Sealus, as he gets stabbed in the throat by a feather flown in at great speed.


    The team then act shocked from Sealus¡¯ sudden death and turn around to see where the feather came from. To their surprise stands a grey humanoid bird demon. ¡°What the...? We can¡¯t let him escape!¡±, says Gregory. As everyone goes in to rush him, a sudden small tornado covers up the sight of the humanoid bird and as the tornado vanishes, so does he. ¡°What the hell?¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Well. That sucks.¡±, says Saige. ¡°And just when Sealus was gonna crack.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Was that a spy?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°So what do we do now that the guy¡¯s dead?¡±, asks Saige. Gregory then sighs before speaking, ¡°I guess just take the pets back to town¡±. Gregory looks at Pincer in Saige¡¯s hand, and then the dogs tied up to a tree.


    In an eventual time, the group is in town, in the morning, as a crowd forms. A couple then comes up to get their dog. As a man comes up to get his dog. Gregory then speaks to them while handing over their pets on rope leashes, ¡°Yeah, there was not that much pets to save, but here you go.¡±. Father Terrance then approaches the group too to speak to them. ¡°Thank you for your work. Now that you have finished your mission, I¡¯d imagine you¡¯d be on your way.¡±. ¡°That¡¯s it? Just a, ¡°Well, go on your way now¡±?¡±, says Mai. Saige then tries cutting her off. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We don¡¯t need anything from him. We¡¯ll be on our way. Come on gang.¡± Saige just begins walking outside of the crowd, Gregory, Kelsey and Mai just look over to Saige and then follow behind him.


    Eventually, in the next moment, the team are inside their car, and just in front of the entrance to the town. Mary then runs up to the car, from out of the entrance. ¡°Wait Saige!¡±, she says. Before Gregory drives off, Mary comes up to the car¡¯s back side window hole, on Saige¡¯s side. ¡°Hey Mary, sorry I forgot to say goodbye before running off.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Could this be the last time I see you?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°Well I¡¯m guessing.. maybe. I won¡¯t be returning to town.. unless that jackass Richter gives us another mission here.¡±, says Saige. ¡°In that case I want to give you a present goodbye before you leave.¡±, says Mary. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Close your eyes and face this way.¡±, says Mary.


    As Saige closes his eyes, he then feels a warm sensation on his lips. He then opens his eyes to see Mary kissing him and then stop and pull back, blushing.


    ¡°I...¡±, says Saige, speechless, as he turns back to Gregory, Mai and Kelsey. Gregory has on a small smile, Mai is covering her mouth in shock and Kelsey¡¯s jaw is just dropped. Saige then turns back to Mary. ¡°Well?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°I never knew you had feelings like that?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Do you have the same feelings for me?¡±, asks Mary. ¡°I.. uh... gotta go. Greg!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Are you serious, boy?¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Greg!!¡±, demands Saige. ¡°Alright!¡±, says Gregory. Gregory then begins to drive off.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to visit you again Mary! I promise!¡±, says Saige, as he waves from his window. Mary is speechless at that moment, but then she smiles and waves back saying, ¡°Okay!¡±.


    ¡°What the hell was that, Saige?¡±, asks Mai ¡°I didn¡¯t know what to say, okay! Never been kissed before!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Ah, young love.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Oh, shut the hell up Greg!¡±, says Saige. Gregory just laughs as they drive off.

 Chapter 27

    Inside a throne room, there¡¯s rows of royal looking guards standing in front of a monarch¡¯s throne, as Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are standing in the front row. The monarch then speaks to them all, ¡°That is why I think- No. I know our assault will work. With us working together, we will be victorious!¡±. The rows then cheer.


    Days earlier, before that event...


    Kelsey and Mai lay back in Gregory¡¯s living room, on his couch, as Kelsey is playing a handheld video game. Saige then walks in and is passing by the couch on his way to the kitchen, but then begins backing up as he notices Kelsey playing her game. ¡°What¡¯s that you got there?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°It¡¯s called a video game.¡±, says Mai ¡°What¡¯s a ¡°video game¡±?¡±, asks Saige. Mai then explains, ¡°It¡¯s this thing that allows you to control a character and dictate moves of that character on screen. Right now, Kelsey is using the character to blast demons?¡±


    Saige looks at the handheld console screen, and sees it¡¯s true. ¡°Is it real or something, like you¡¯re actually controlling someone?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°No, it¡¯s all fake.¡±, says Mai. Saige just continues to look at the screen in slight amazement. ¡°Can I try?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Sorry, but Kelsey¡¯s trying it right now.¡±, says Mai. Saige tries to swipe the game from Kelsey, but Kelsey dodges.


    He tries to swipe the game again and again, but Kelsey keeps dodging in a circle. ¡°Ah! Lemme try!¡±, yells Saige. ¡°Wait your turn! S-Saige!¡±, says Mai. Saige continues to keep trying to swipe the game. Then General Richter and Gregory just walk into the house and see Kelsey, Mai and Saige. Saige stops and then faces General Richter. ¡°Oh hey, it¡¯s Richter. What¡¯s up?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Wanted to give thanks for dealing with that Beast Tamer.¡±, says General Richter.


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    ¡°Yeah, no problem.¡±, says Saige. ¡°It¡¯s what we do.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Mhm!¡±, says Kelsey. Saige then tries to swipe the game again, but Kelsey dodges. ¡°Damnit, Kelsey!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Also, a new assignment for you guys.¡±, says General Richter as he takes out a letter. General Richter then continues, ¡°Comes all the way from Aurum Kingdom.¡±. ¡°Aurum Kingdom!?¡±, exclaims Mai. ¡°Yup.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Now listen up to the letter.¡±, says Gregory.


    General Richter then begins to read. ¡°¡°Greetings, my name is King Jesse of Aurum Kingdom. I have heard much of your tales in defeating demons, but more importantly, I have heard of Saige, a demon humanoid living amongst you...¡±¡±


    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s you.¡±, says Mai. ¡°I¡¯m not a demon.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Shh.¡±, says Gregory.


    General Richter then continues, ¡°¡°...I heard he was responsible for killing greatly intimidating demon generals, and I found that amazing. I wanted to know if Saige would be interested in helping us with our problem. You see, demons have taken control of our fish populus and have been giving us problems for months. We would like Saige¡¯s help in getting rid of this problem once and for all. We would be honoured to have his help. Please, if he accepts the offer, we will give him much money. That is if he succeeds in fixing our problem.


    Sincerely, King Jesse Of Aurum Kingdom.¡±¡±.


    Saige then speaks up, while rubbing his chin, ¡°I¡¯m already getting famous, eh?¡±. ¡°Aurum Kingdom!!¡±, says Mai. ¡°Hey, chill, why are you yelling!?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what Aurum Kingdom is?¡±, asks Mai. Saige shakes his head then tries to swipe the game from Kelsey again, but she dodges. ¡°It¡¯s a kingdom on an island. It¡¯s mainly a beachfront kingdom.¡±, says Mai. ¡°So?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige, haven¡¯t you ever been to the beach?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°No.¡±, says Saige as he tries to swipe the game again, but Kelsey dodges.


    Mai then explains, ¡°Well you¡¯ll love it, there¡¯s water, sand, amusement park rides. Oh I¡¯ll have to pack a swimsuit. You can also borrow one of my swimsuits too Kelsey.¡±


    Saige then imagines Kelsey and Mai in swimsuits and blows hot air out of his nose.


    ¡°You know, now it sounds interesting, the way you describe it. I may wanna go.¡±, says Saige. ¡°There¡¯s no, ¡°may¡±. Either yes or no.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Fine. Yes. I¡¯m going.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Great, I¡¯ll let King Jesse know. Be ready to leave in a few days.¡±, says General Richter, right before leaving. ¡°EEEE!! This¡¯ll be exciting! I¡¯ll pack my stuff.¡±, says Mai.

 Chapter 28

    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige pull up in Old Betty, the junker buggy, to an ocean side, with a pier nearby, and a big iron ship in the water. The four of them get out of the car with backpacks on and walk up to the pier.


    Gregory then speaks, ¡°It¡¯s time to get on.¡± And then he climbs a ladder on the side of the ship. The other three follow behind Gregory, also climbing the ladder and getting onboard.


    Once onboard, the group suddenly get met by a man with a muscular build, a full body grey suit, and a big brown beard. Gregory then greets him. ¡°Captain Tommy.¡±, ¡°Lieutenant Gregory.¡±, says Captain Tommy as he shakes hands with Gregory.


    Captain Tommy puts his hands on his hips and stands straight, looking at Gregory and his team, ¡°Haven¡¯t seen you in awhile.¡±, says Tommy. ¡°Yeah, been busy.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°You¡¯ve been raising kids?¡±, asks Tommy. Gregory responds, ¡°Something like that. Everyone, this is Tommy. We go way back. Knew each other during war times.¡±. ¡°Yup. Though Gregory was one beyond the others. Got to know him like a friend.¡±, says Captain Tommy. Saige then cuts in, ¡°So what are we doing here?¡±.


    ¡°Well the skies are more cleared up now and we gotta reach that island.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Yup. Heard about the quest. That¡¯s why we¡¯ll be taking Alvin.¡±, says Tommy. Saige cuts in again asking, ¡°Whose Alvin?¡±. ¡°It¡¯s the ship.¡±, says Tommy. Tommy then gestures to them to follow him and, the group follows behind. ¡°What¡¯s up with you guys and naming your vehicles.¡±, says Saige.


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    Cut to later, and the ship is now rising out of clouds in the sky, treating the clouds as if they were like water, as giant spread out clothed wings on the side of the ship and boosters underneath it carry the ship forward. Meanwhile, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Tommy and Saige are in the bridge of the ship, which has just enough room to fit the five of them.


    ¡°Full speed ahead Alvin! Next stop, Aurum Kingdom!¡±, says Tommy. Kelsey looks out the window at the fluffy clouds and gets excited eyes. ¡°Yahoo! This is awesome!¡±, she says. Mai then talks up, ¡°I can¡¯t believe this, this is my first time on an airship! Saige can you believe we¡¯re actually... Saige?¡±, says Mai, as she looks over to Saige, to see him on all fours barfing on the floor. ¡°Eww.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Aw, White Talon.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Sorry.¡±, says Saige.


    The ship continues to fly through the air elegantly, as Mai takes time to look out the window, ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re flying through the skiiies!¡±, says Mai. Saige looks onward, out the window too, and gives a bit of a smile in wonder of the clouds. ¡°The view does look nic-¡±, says Saige, right before he goes to vomit, but then swallows it before he can. ¡°Eww.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Don¡¯t ew me, I never asked for us to fly there!¡±, says Saige. Gregory then walks over to the two of them. ¡°Well there¡¯s a reason we can¡¯t take the waters, cause it¡¯s overtaken by demons.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Damn demons.¡±, says Saige. The ship then rocks a little, then it shakes Saige, making him cover his mouth with his hand, as he seems like he¡¯s about to throw up. ¡°For heaven¡¯s sake boy, here!¡±, says Tommy as he tosses over a regular old tin bucket to Saige. Saige then catches the bucket and immediately barfs into it.


    ¡°How long until we get there?¡±, Saige asks Tommy. ¡°A couple of hours.¡±, Tommy responds. ¡°Great.¡±, says Saige, right before barfing into the bucket again.

 Chapter 29

    The group is still on the ship as it flies through the skies. Captain Tommy, while holding onto the steering wheel, looks out ahead and begins tilting the ship downward. As they tilt downward and descend through the clouds, Tommy sees an island and alerts the rest of everyone. ¡°Dead set ahead! We¡¯ve reached Aurum Kingdom!¡±.


    One by one, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige, holding the barf bucket, go and look out the window, looking straight ahead at Aurum Kingdom. ¡°Wow it¡¯s so pretty!¡±, says Mai. ¡°I wonder what the warrior or heroes of this island are like.¡±, says Kelsey. Saige says nothing, as he just stares forward, out the window, and looks sickly from barfing a lot. As everyone else is wondering and admiring the view, Gregory then says a few words on Aurum Kingdom. ¡°It¡¯s an advanced civilization more advanced than our settlement and it lives on a shoreline. There you¡¯ll see beautiful beaches as far as the eye can see, while inside the city is a general chill culture.¡± ¡°Chill?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°You¡¯ll see once we get there.¡±, says Gregory. The ship then, on approaching the island, first lands in the water and carefully gets steered up next to a docking pier.


    The group then climb off the ship and look around from the beach shore, seeing a bunch of skyscrappers, a beaming hot sun above and tropical trees along the sides of streets. They also notice some people flying around streets on hoverbikes and some people on hoverboards, going down sidewalks, as most of the inhabitants are dark-skinned. ¡°Cool.¡±, says Saige, as he looks at it all from a distance. ¡°It looks kinda like Ground Zero, but not...¡±, says Mai, before being cut off by Gregory. ¡°¡°Wrecked¡±? Yup, this is near to what the Sapphire Kingdom was like before the war. Except for the hot sun and tropical trees.¡±.


    A middle-aged dark-skinned man comes up with two armed guards at his side, while he strolls up with a relaxed stride, long beard, tropical t-shirt, crown and shorts on. He then speaks out to them. ¡°You like it? Well you haven¡¯t seen anything yet. Welcome to Aurum Kingdom, allow us to meet your acquaintance.¡±


    Gregory immediately bows in front of him. He then looks out to the rest of the team and speaks. ¡°Everybody bow! Now!¡±. Mai and Kelsey bow, but Saige just stands with his hands in his pockets, squinting at the guy in the crown. ¡°The honour is ours.¡±, says Gregory. Gregory then reaches out for Saige head, to force him to bow, but Saige just slaps away his hand. ¡°Saige bow! This is King Jesse. He is the king of Aurum Kingdom.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Oh. Put it there!¡±, says Saige as he extends a hand to King Jesse to shake. ¡°Saige!¡±, says Gregory, now looking part furious and embarrassed. King Jesse, then speaks while shaking. ¡°Ha ha! Don¡¯t mind if I do. It¡¯s alright. You four are ¡®our¡¯ guests from a foreign land. It should be me bending over to honour you. It¡¯s only fair.¡±.


    Gregory stops bowing and immediately stands up straight. ¡°Yes sir.¡±. ¡°So what¡¯s your names?¡±, King Jesse asks. Gregory then responds, ¡°My bad, I forgot to have us introduce ourselves. My name is Gregory. The one in the helmet is Kelsey. This is my adopted daughter Mai. And the one with the white hair is Saige.¡±. ¡°So you¡¯re Saige.¡±, asks King Jesse.


    King Jesses then examines Saige from top-to-bottom, just using his eyes while walking around Saige, with a hand on his chin. ¡°Interesting, interesting. So you¡¯re the one that I called to help us out. You don¡¯t seem that strong.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that I''m very strong.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Hm. Ha ha, I¡¯ll take your word on it. Follow me.¡±, says King Jesse, as he gestures to them to follow. The group then follows behind King Jesse and his guards. They walk through the city and see people calmly going to stores and greeting eachother. Saige also notices, and says something about it. ¡°You know, for a demon crisis, the place seems calmer than you¡¯d expect.¡±


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    ¡°Those annoying demons are just a trouble at our shore lines. Also sorry you¡¯re walking. Thought you¡¯d appreciate taking a tour of the place on foot.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we''re used to walking.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige, don¡¯t act so...¡±, says Gregory, right before being cut off by King Jesse. ¡°What.. ¡°chill¡±, ¡°relaxed¡±? He can definitely act like that. Infact, I decree it. Greg, you need to relax more.¡±. ¡°Oh. My bad.¡±, says Gregory.


    Eventually, they reach a beach. ¡°And here¡¯s our main beach side. Just east of the shore you arrived at¡±, says King Jesse. Mai and Saige get excitement in their eyes upon seeing the beach. ¡°The beach!¡±, Mai and Saige say. ¡°That¡¯s unfortunately closed right now, due to demon attacks.¡±, says King Jesse. Mai and Saige¡¯s excitement then deflates and they drop their jaws. King Jesse then explains why. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the inconvenience, but that¡¯s just how it is right now. It¡¯s a real shame too, cause I and my people use to use the beach for multiple things like fishing, volleyball, sun tanning, sand castle building, swimming and even surfing.¡±


    ¡°Aww, that all sounds fun!¡±, says Mai. ¡°Actually, I¡¯d be surfing now, but it¡¯s a shame that the demons messed it all up.¡±, says King Jesse. Suddenly, five red skinned humanoid looking demons come toward the shore, riding demon dolphins and demon sharks. King Jesse observes them arrive at shore. ¡°Oh, here comes a few demons now.¡±, he says. The five demons jump off the demon dolphins and demon sharks and land on the sandy shore. The two guards by King Jesse¡¯s side then take out machine guns and take aim. Saige, at the same time, runs in while growing out his horns and tail.


    King Jesse then puts out his arm in front of the machine guns. ¡°Hold position.¡±, he says. The guards listen to him and lower their guns. Saige gets even nearer to the demons. As he runs in, he yells, ¡°So you¡¯re the bastards causing so much trouble!?¡±, then he jumps and boots one demon in the face, then punches down another demon¡¯s head into the sand. ¡°Get the hell outta here!¡±, yells Saige.


    The other demons look at Saige and start retreating back to their demon dolphins and demon sharks. The demons jump on their rides and start conjuring fire in their hands and shooting the fire at Saige. Saige takes it, and sand dust clouds pick up and blind him. ¡°Saige! I¡¯ll go help him!¡±, says Mai, just taking off her gun. At the while, King Jesse hand gestures for his guards to go and assist. Mai and the two guards run in to assist, until they see Saige suddenly jump out of the dust cloud, and land on a demon shark and punch the demon hunanoid off of it, then reach out and grab the tail of a demon dolphin and swing it into another demon hunanoid, as the demon that rode the dolphin flies off.


    The three demons that fell off, struggle to swim, but then get back on their mounts, as one of them grabs Saige by the leg and pulls him off into the water, then gets back on his demon shark. ¡°Whoa!¡±, says Saige as he falls into the water. Mai and the two guards aim their guns at the demons, as the demons notice. The demons then all ride their mounts away and out of the area. Saige then comes out of the ocean, drenched, with his long wet hair hanging in front of his face, almost blinding him. King Jesse runs up to Saige, just as Saige shakes his head around like a wet dog, as he splashes King Jesse.


    ¡°King Jesse!¡±, Gregory cries. ¡°Ha ha, nice job! That was excellent Saige!¡±, says King Jesse. Saige turns to King Jesse. ¡°Huh?¡±, Saige says.


    King Jesse then continues. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen someone fight demons like that before. All barehanded.¡±. ¡°No big deal. Told you I was strong.¡±, says Saige.


    Later on, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Saige and King Jesse, with his two guards enter a hotel room. They look in, surprised at it. ¡°It¡¯s so good looking! Look at all the machines and the white pristine stuff.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Whoa.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Are those actually beds!? They look so fluffy!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Sounds like you¡¯ve been living it rough for too long. This is just a common two bed hotel room. Consider it an offering on behalf of me. You¡¯ll be staying here and can order as much free food and general services as you like? Just use the phone over there?¡±, says King Jesse.


    ¡°Phone?¡±, asks Saige. Mai also wonders, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m also confused. What¡¯s a phone?¡±. ¡°You¡¯ve never heard of a phone!?¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°I¡¯ll teach them about it your majesty. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±, says Gregory. King Jesse stretches his arms in front of himself, then puts his hands on his hips. ¡°Ha ha, well okay. Have a good sleep, cause it¡¯ll be a busy day tomorrow. Take care and goodnight.¡±, says King Jesse, as he heads toward the door and exits as the guards close the door behind him.


    ¡°King Jesse is pretty awesome.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Yeah, who knew he¡¯d be so kicked back.¡±, says Mai. ¡°And Gregory was on high guard around him.¡±, says Kelsey. Gregory then explains himself. ¡°One thing you should know about royalty, you should always be on high guard around them. Their attitude can either be kind or mean-spirited and if you get on their bad side, they can order your death or torture with a swift finger snap. Luckily King Jesse is so nice and relaxed. But Saige, you should be more careful!¡±


    ¡°Yeah yeah. So how do you use the phone? Jesse said it can summon food.¡±, says Saige. ¡°¡°King Jesse.¡±¡±, Gregory corrects. ¡°Yeah yeah, sure. But food.¡±, says Saige. Gregory sighs, then walks over to the phone and grabs it. ¡°Let me explain how to use the phone.¡±

 Chapter 30

    It¡¯s just about after noon, as Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are standing in front of a fence gate, with two guards on each side, as the gate blocks a pathway, leading up to a castle. ¡°Check that place out! It¡¯s so big. Even from just this far away.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Amazing, I wonder how they built on sand.¡±, says Mai. ¡°We¡¯re staring at a freaking castle, and your first thought is how it was built?, says Saige. ¡°Alright, and what¡¯s your thoughts on the castle?¡±, asks Mai. Saige responds, ¡°I dunno, like I wonder how big the inside is or if they¡¯re stocked up well on food.¡±. ¡°Didn¡¯t you eat enough last night?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Ahem. So, where¡¯s the king, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡±, says Gregory, just cutting through the conversation, while talking to a guard.


    ¡°Sorry, his majesty is having his nap.¡±, says the guard. ¡°Still!?¡±, Mai and Saige say in unison. ¡°But it¡¯s the afternoon.¡±, says Mai. ¡°You want me to wake him up?¡±, asks Saige. Gregory just gives Saige a serious look. ¡°What? I won¡¯t hit him. Most I¡¯ll do is yell in his ear.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, we have it handled.¡±, says the guard.


    The group then look through the bars of the gate, seeing King Jesse walking up, wearing a soft white robe, with gold trim, and having two guards at his sides. King Jesse, after walking the distance, finally reaches the fence gate. ¡°Who dares disturb my sleep?¡±, says King Jesse.


    ¡°Are you kidding!? You were sleeping till the afternoon! Talk about being a lazy ass.¡±, says Saige. Gregory quickly covers Saige¡¯s mouth with his hands. King Jesse now has a surprised face on. ¡°We¡¯re terribly sorry your king, I¡¯m not sure what he¡¯s talking about!¡±, says Gregory. King Jesse then snaps his fingers, as Gregory jitters with fear, now having a surprised look on his own face. ¡°Guards...¡±, says King Jesse. Gregory lets out a quiet yelp. ¡°...Where¡¯s my tea?¡±, King Jesse asks. A guard, behind King Jesse, at the distance, jogs lightly, while holding a tea set on a tray. After managing to reach King Jesse, the guard pours black tea from a tea kettle, into a tea cup and hands the tea cup to him. King Jesse takes in the aroma for a brief second, then drinks from the cup.


    ¡°Haha, love me some tea. Anyway, you should try sleeping in sometime. Want some tea?¡±, says King Jesse to Saige. ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good.¡±, Saige responds. ¡°Anyway, what are you doing waiting outside here for, come in. Guards, open the gates.¡±, says King Jesse.


    After the guards open the gate, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige come through and follow King Jesse up to his castle. They then enter the castle, and see the inside, as it is generally big and empty, with a grand staircase across the way, from the front. ¡°Wow.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Welcome to my home.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°So this place, I wonder, how you built it on sand. It must have been annoying.¡±, asks Mai. King Jesse responds, ¡°Have no idea. I just know this place has been here for centuries. Served my family for a long while. Now, I¡¯d give you a tour, but you probably want to get down to the mission, right?¡±. ¡°The mission?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yeah. My head general has it all planned out. Come on, let me introduce you to him.¡±, says King Jesse.


    The group follow behind King Jesse and the next moment, they notice themselves heading into a basement door and going down a long spiral hallway, with walling made of a tan coloured brick. Upon reaching the bottom, they are greeted by a middle aged bald dark-skinned male, standing behind a table with a map of the island on it. While he has a clear dark blue board behind him, on the wall. ¡°Head General Wade. We got a group here. It¡¯s Saige and his friends.¡±, says King Jesse. Mai whispers to Gregory and Kelsey, ¡°When did we become Saige¡¯s entourage?¡±. ¡°Anyway, tell em what we¡¯re dealing with.¡±, says King Jesse.


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    Wade then speaks, ¡°Nice to meet you. Anyway, we¡¯re dealing with a serious series of events. We have demons ruining our fishing trade, demons causing our beaches to close down, demons...¡±. Mai cuts him off, ¡°Wait, doesn¡¯t this castle rest on a shoreline? How are the demons not getting here?¡±. Wade responds, ¡°We have good defenses. Trust me on that. Namely, guards standing on point at each hour of the day and turrets as well. It¡¯s different for our public beaches though, because they don¡¯t have proper defenses setup. Just guards on point right now.¡±. ¡°That sucks.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Yes it does ¡°suck¡±, as you say.¡±, says Wade. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan to take down these demons?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°...I was just getting to that.¡±, says Wade. ¡°Don¡¯t let me stop you.¡±, says Saige. Wade gives Saige an annoyed look. ¡°Don¡¯t mind Wade, he¡¯s just always sour.¡±, says King Jesse.


    Wade responds, ¡°Hmph, no I¡¯m not. Anyway, let me get to the plan. We¡¯ll scale a full assault on hoverbikes.¡±. ¡°Hoverbikes!?¡±, Saige questions, with a delighted look on his face. ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me.¡±, says Wade. Saige just fixes his face back to a neutral expression and goes silent. Wade then continues, ¡°Yes. We have enough of them. You see, our target is a single tower in the middle of the ocean. The problem is, we don¡¯t have weaponry that can assault far enough and we don¡¯t have airships.¡±.


    ¡°That can¡¯t be true. This country has no airships to attack?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°We do, but the tech on them is outdated and most have broken down out of not being used for so many years.¡±, says Wade. ¡°But didn¡¯t you use airships in the Human and Demon War. They can¡¯t be that worn down?¡±, says Mai.


    Gregory explains, ¡°Actually, in the Human and Demon war, demons never attacked Aurum Kingdom. Since the kingdom was so far out in the seas and, at first, demons weren¡¯t aware Aurum Kingdom even existed. So it remained as a safe haven.¡±. ¡°Wait, but why do you have attack air ships, in the first place then, if you never needed them?¡±, asks Mai.


    ¡°They were used in a war before the Human and Demon War. Long ago they were used in the war of Five Kingdoms.¡±, says Wade. ¡°War of five kingdoms?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°You never heard of it?¡±, asks Jesse. ¡°No.¡±, Saige responds. ¡°Me neither.¡±, Mai responds as well. King Jesse then goes on to explain, ¡°Well. In the world there are five kingdoms to go from. First we have the Sapphire Kingdom, the kingdom of practicality. Second, Aurum Kingdom, the kingdom of fun.¡±.


    ¡°The kingdom Of fun, eh?¡±, says Saige.


    Jesse continues, ¡°That¡¯s right. And then, the three other kingdoms. Third, the Emerald Kingdom, the kingdom of peace. Fourth, Diamante Kingdom, the kingdom of regality. Then fifth, the Ruby Kingdom, the kingdom of hard work. Long ago, much before the Human and Demon War, the kingdoms were at war. And no one could cross into eachother¡¯s territory without getting killed.


    ¡°Damn.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Really? Gregory, how come you never told me about the war of the Five Kingdoms?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Didn¡¯t seem important to explain.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Anyway, that is it. There was a war, but then it got resolved.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°May I ask how it got resolved?¡±, asks Mai.


    King Jesse explains how, ¡°Mainly with the kingdoms agreeing to team up to stop the Diamante Kingdom in the end, since they had the biggest army and cruelest tactics. The Diamante Kingdom still isn¡¯t keen on how the war ended, but they still agreed to a peace treaty.¡±.


    ¡°Or were forced into it.¡±, says Mai. King Jesse retorts, ¡°Either way, we all live in peace now, despite the aftermath of the Human and Demon War.¡± Wade then cuts in, ¡°Yes. Much happened in the past. Now, would you like to hear the plan?¡±. ¡°Yeah, go ahead.¡±, says Saige.


    Wade goes into the plan, while turning around and using his finger to write in light blue on the board behind him, drawing out the plan. ¡°Thank you. The plan is we all assault the demon tower with hoverbikes and take on the enemy in a crane formation, while surrounding the tower. Meanwhile, Saige will stay in the back and after we get close enough to the tower, he¡¯ll come out to the front and assault the tower with us.¡±


    Mai raises a hand. ¡°Yes?¡±, says Wade. ¡°So is this a suicide run? They still control the sea life, somehow.¡±, asks Mai. Wade further explains,¡±The hover bikes can fly high well above the ocean to avoid any surprise attacks. If we were using boats, then it¡¯d be more suicidal.¡±


    ¡°So I get to ride a hoverbike?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yes.¡±, says Wade. ¡°Whoo!¡±, Saige responds. ¡°One problem. Excluding me, this group has never driven hoverbikes before.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°So then we¡¯ll have to train them. Come on. Let¡¯s get you three on hoverbikes.¡±, says King Jesse. Saige just grins from ear to ear and follows behind King Jesse to the hoverbikes.

 Chapter 31

    Saige, Mai and Kelsey are standing next to hover bikes on the shoreline, just outside the back of the castle, while King Jesse and Gregory are across from them. ¡°You ready to ride?¡±, asks King Jesse. ¡°Definitely.¡±, says Saige.


    Gregory then explains what they¡¯re going to do. ¡°So we¡¯re going to train on the sand first. Try to avoid going over the water. If you come close to the water, just let go of the controls.¡±. ¡°So let¡¯s get ready to ride. Jump on your vehicles.¡±, says King Jesse. Saige then eagerly hops on a hoverbike first, then revs it like a bike, but it doesn¡¯t go anywhere. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±, asks Saige, in confusion. ¡°Ha ha, you didn¡¯t know? You have to turn the key.¡±, says King Jesse.


    Saige looks down and sees the key is already in the ignition. He then turns the key, revs the handles, and the bike hums as it begins to hover, while glowing blue underneath. ¡°Now, twist the right side to go forward and the left side to stop! But be careful, it has a kick to it!¡±, says King Jesse. Saige does just what King Jesse says and immediately goes forward. ¡°Whoo yeah! Whoa!¡±, shouts Saige.


    ¡°Daddy daddy!¡±, a little girl shouts from the distance, nearer to the castle. The little girl then runs behind King Jesse, while a dark-skinned woman in pink robes, with gold trim, comes up behind King Jesse too. Meanwhile, Saige crashes into a tree and totally wipes out. At the same time, King Jesse turns around and picks up the little girl and says, ¡°Ah, there¡¯s my little girl.¡±


    ¡°Saige!¡±, shouts Mai, as she runs over to Saige and then helps him up. ¡°Thanks. Whose that?¡±, says Saige, as he points over to the little girl that King Jesse is now holding. ¡°This is my daughter, Jessica.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Aww, isn¡¯t she cute.¡±, says Gregory. Saige acts mildly surprised from Gregory''s reaction.


    ¡°She sure is. And this is my wife, ¡°Julie¡±.¡±, says King Jesse, while gesturing toward the woman in the pink robe. ¡°Pleasure to meet you all.¡±, says Queen Julie. ¡°Pleasure for us to meet you as well.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°Wait, someone like you has a wife and daughter?¡±, says Saige. Gregory then covers Saige¡¯s mouth. ¡°Ha ha, what¡¯s that supposed to mean? Come on, uncover his mouth.¡±, says Jesse. Gregory then uncovers, but still acts fearful of what Saige will say next. ¡°I mean, you have.. a pretty wife and you have a daughter? How¡¯d you do it?¡±, says Saige. ¡°My, I am flattered. Who is this?¡±, asks Queen Julie. ¡°Oh this is Saige. That demon person I called for.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Not a demon.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Ha ha, whatever you say.¡±, says King Jesse.


    Queen Julie gets a surprised look on her face, takes her daughter from King Jesse and drags him by the ear over to the distance. ¡°Ow oww!¡±, says King Jesse.


    From the distance, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige can hear the following...


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    Queen Julie: You brought this demon man to our home?


    King Jesse: It was the only way to take on the demon tower, babe.


    Queen Julie: Don¡¯t ¡°babe¡± me. He was near our daughter. What if you set him off?


    King Jesse: He¡¯s harmless around us.


    Queen Julie: You¡¯re always taking risks like this.


    Saige grows a bit unhappy from hearing this. That¡¯s then when the conversation ends with Queen Julie going back inside, while holding Jessica. King Jesse walks back up to the group. ¡°Everything alright?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Yeah yeah, the wife is just.. unsettled.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Cause of me, isn¡¯t it?¡±, asks Saige.


    King Jesse explains, ¡°More or less, but don¡¯t worry Saige...¡± He then puts hands on Saige¡¯s shoulders. ¡°...You¡¯re an honoured guest here. So I¡¯m going to treat you right, alright.¡±. ¡°Okay?¡±, Saige says in a confused manner. King Jesse then takes his hands off of Saige¡¯s shoulders.


    King Jesse then talks on, ¡°Let¡¯s forget this hoverbike training for now. You should be shown around the island. Get to realize why this is called the kingdom of fun.¡±


    What proceeds next is a montage on several events. First the group ride a roller coaster while putting their arms in the air and yelling as the roller coaster goes on a down slope. Second, the group go and visit an aquarium and Saige puts his face up to the glass as he sees all the fish swimming by. Third, they go to a waterpark and Saige¡¯s eyes look Mai up and down as she comes out in an orange one-piece swimsuit. Kelsey comes out also in an orange one-piece swimsuit, while wearing her helmet. Then the group go and slide down a waterslide. At the end of the day, the group rests in one of the waterpark¡¯s pools.


    ¡°Today was nice.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yup.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Though, we¡¯d have to get you all into training tomorrow.¡±, says King Jesse. Suddenly, the group hear screams. They look over in their pool and see demon fish coming out and biting people. ¡°Oh no. We gotta get out of the water quick!¡±, says Gregory. ¡°First we need to save people.¡±, says Mai.


    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige go to the rescue and start grabbing people, including the kids, up and getting them out of the pool. King Jesse also tries helping too. Demon fish then go to rush King Jesse, but Saige rushes over and scratches them up in time. ¡°Saige.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Just get out of here you moron! Leave this to us!¡±, says Saige.


    King Jesse exits the pool with a kid on his back and he then places them down and they run off. Saige keeps scratching up demon fish, while Gregory, Kelsey and Mai keep grabbing and leading the remaining kids out of the pools. Eventually, Mai leads the last kid out of a pool. ¡°Where¡¯s Saige?¡±, Mai asks. Mai then looks around and spots Saige, seeing him struggle in the water.


    King Jesse then runs in and jumps in the water, Saige¡¯s in. ¡°No, your majesty, what are you doing!?¡±, shouts Mai. King Jesse gets Saige out of the water while getting bitten up alot by the demon fish. ¡°Augh!¡±, shouts King Jesse, but he still pulls Saige by the arm and out of the water.


    Both their bodies have scratches all over them, by the time they get out of the water. ¡°You.. basically saved me back there.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Of course, I couldn¡¯t let you die.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Eh, those fishes wouldn¡¯t have killed me.¡±, says Saige. Mai then cuts in, ¡°Yea, only drown you. Your majesty, what were you thinking!? You should''ve let us handle that.¡±. ¡°I couldn¡¯t help it. Couldn¡¯t let Saige suffer in there.¡±, says King Jesse. Saige just looks at him.


    Later on, after all the commotion has died down, everyone is just outside the water park building, at night time, as the street has ambulances in it. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Saige and King Jesse, stand outside the water park building, just staring at it, as one guard is nearby King Jesse, and King Jesse and Saige have white comfort towels on them. King Jesse then speaks to the group, ¡°You have to understand, this island is the pride and joy of fun here. But these demons are ruining this island¡¯s culture. Use to be a magical place to be, now it¡¯s slowly turning into a hazard.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I understand now. We¡¯ll rid you of these damn demons.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Thank you.¡±, says King Jesse. They just continue staring at the waterpark building.

 Chapter 32

    It¡¯s the afternoon at King Jesse¡¯s castle as Saige crashes a hoverbike into a tree and goes flying off it. Kelsey drives one and revs into the sand. Mai drives one and flies it in a circle. ¡°You have to anticipate the kick to it! Watch the purple haired girl! She¡¯s getting it.¡±, says King Jesse.


    Mai then drives the hoverbike across the shore. ¡°Can I try it over the water!?¡±, Mai shouts over. ¡°I think she can.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Go ahead, but stay near the shoreline!¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Whoo!¡±, shouts Mai.


    Mai rides over to the water, with a big grin on her face. Meanwhile, Saige is just sitting on his hoverbike, watching in annoyance. Kelsey then crashes into a tree and lands near Saige. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Saige. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll learn how to ride like Mai. We just have to keep trying!¡±, says Kelsey, as she puts a thumb up.


    What proceeds next is a montage of Saige and Kelsey trying to master their hoverbikes. Saige crashes into a tree. Kelsey crashes into a tree. Saige flies too high and falls off the bike. Saige and Kelsey crash into each other.


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    Eventually, Mai steers back by them while still over the waters. ¡°You still haven¡¯t gotten it yet!?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Hey, shut up!¡±, shouts Saige, as he sprouts horns.


    Saige then proceeds to hop on his hoverbike and try riding it. He wobbles on the bike though, then crashes it into the sand.


    In eventuality, the sun begins to go down, but finally, Saige starts getting the hang of the hoverbike and rides it around as Kelsey rides hers around too. ¡°I¡¯m finally getting it with this stupid bike!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Bike¡¯s not stupid.¡±, Kelsey chimes in to say. ¡°Hey, whatever. Either way, I¡¯m finally getting it.¡±, says Saige. ¡°You want to ride over the waters?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°Sure!¡±, says Saige.


    On hoverbikes, Saige follows Kelsey ride out and they fly over the waters having fun. ¡°H-Hey! Remember to stay near the shoreline! ¡°, says Gregory. King Jesse just pats Gregory on the shoulder. ¡°Just let them have fun.¡±, says King Jesse. Mai stands beside Gregory and King Jesse, shouting out to Kelsey and Saige, ¡°You better not crash in the water!¡±. King Jesse chuckles.


    Suddenly, the island shakes, then King Jesse gets a phone ring from inside his pocket. He takes out his phone and answers. ¡°Hello?¡±. On the phone, a guard answers back, ¡°King Jesse, sir, we have an attack on Aurum¡¯s Western Shoreline! It appears to be a giant octopus!¡±

 Chapter 33

    The group are at the shore behind King Jesse¡¯s castle, as Saige and Kelsey are still driving hoverbikes over the water. King Jesse waves over to Kelsey and Saige and the two drive over and get near King Jesse, Gregory and Mai. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±, asks Saige, as he¡¯s still on the hoverbike. ¡°There¡¯s an attack on the Western Shoreline.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°...An attack?¡±, says Saige. ¡°A giant octopus. I need your help.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. We¡¯ll help alright.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Good. We need to get there fast so we¡¯ll need more hoverbikes.¡±, says King Jesse.


    Cut to later, there¡¯s a giant reddish octopus near a shoreline, letting loose on buildings nearby by smashing into them with its tentacles. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Saige and King Jesse just come in, flying hoverbikes over rooftops, until they make it to the scene and land some distance in front of the beast, as it¡¯s getting shot at by several royal guards with machine guns.


    ¡°Your majesty, you¡¯re here! You should get some distance!¡±, one guard says toward King Jesse. ¡°I have Saige and his friends with me to help stop this.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Oh good. We need help to stop this thing.¡±, says the guard. ¡°Uhhh.¡±, Saige responds, at a loss of what to say. The octopus then smashes more into a building and cracks it partially. ¡°First thing to do, we need to evacuate people from this area, including out of those buildings.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Yeah!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Right!¡±, the guard responds.


    The guard then takes out his phone. ¡°What is that?¡±, Mai and Saige ask in unison. ¡°A cell phone?¡±, says the guard. Jesse explains, ¡°It¡¯s a cell phone. We use it to call people from a distance, while unlike a regular phone, you can carry it with you.¡±. ¡°Y-.. Yes.¡±, says the guard.


    The guard then proceeds to talk into the cell phone, ¡°Hello? Yes, pass on the message to evacuate the people in buildings nearby the attack area!¡±. Demons then start pouring into the street, from behind the octopus, coming outward toward the group. ¡°Get ready. Demons!¡±, says Gregory.


    Gregory and Saige both get into boxer stances, as Kelsey takes out her gun, Mai takes out her bat and King Jesse takes out a short bar off his side, which extends it into a pole staff. The group then proceed to fight multiple demons in street coming up to them. ¡°Didn¡¯t know you knew how to fight?¡±, says Saige toward King Jesse. King Jesse responds, ¡°I was taught by my father when I was very small.¡±. They continue fighting the demons in the street way.


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    Suddenly, one of the buildings that was cracked gets smashed into again and half of it falls over almost crushing Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Saige and King Jesse. ¡°Watch out!¡±, yells Saige as the building collapses over and the group dodges out of the way. ¡°Noooo!! Countless people were in that building!¡±, says King Jesse. Saige then grows his horns and tail. ¡°Grr! Alright, that tears it!¡±, says Saige. The octopus scuddles more forward onto land. Suddenly, someone unveils themself standing, hunched over, on top of the octopus, holding a flute. ¡°Oops, did I do that?¡±, the guy says. ¡°Grrr, wait.. that one guy from Creed Town. You¡¯re behind this!?¡±, Saige says, as he notices him from the distance.


    ¡°One guy? Oh you must be talking about my twin brother, ¡°Sealus¡±.¡±, the guys says. ¡°That was his name.¡±, says Mai. ¡°My name is ¡°Demon General, Gallus¡±! As you can see, I also control animals with my special flute.¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Grr, I don¡¯t care! I¡¯m going to kill you after all the people you just murdered!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Actually, there may be people still alive in that building! It just needs to be searched!¡±, says Mai. ¡°I¡¯ll try to inform others to search!¡±, says the guard.


    ¡°Oh, you hate how I murdered those humans, just like how you murdered my brother?¡±, says Gallus. Mai then cuts in, ¡°Wait, a second, we didn¡¯t...¡±. ¡°Oh yeah! Just, like I murdered your brother, I¡¯m gonna murder you too the same way!¡±, says Saige. ¡°But Saige we didn''t...¡±, says Mai, before getting cut off again. ¡°Let¡¯s see you try!¡±, says Gallus.


    The octopus strikes at Saige and sends Saige flying back, then he lands on his feet. Gallus then turns to King Jesse and speaks, ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. King Jesse, I see you¡¯ve arrived here. Already, I¡¯ve murdered a couple of people at the shoreline, but it doesn¡¯t have to be that way with the rest of the island, if you surrender it to me.¡±. ¡°Surrender?¡±, King Jesse says.


    ¡°All you have to do is give up your kingship and let me take it! Then I¡¯ll stop my attack.¡±, says Gallus. ¡°No friggin¡¯ way!¡±, says Saige. King Jesse ponders it, then speaks. ¡°For the lives of those people lost, I believe there is no way I will give up my kingship to you! You¡¯re going down!¡±. ¡°Fine by me!¡±, says Gallus.


    The octopus then goes to strike King Jesse, but Saige arrives in time to deflect it and cut a tentacle deeply, with his claws. ¡°Ha! Nice move, but that scratch means nothing to a demon octopus, which can regenerate!¡±. Saige does a low growl. The octopus then scuddles inward to the town more, and cracks more buildings as it goes. Saige gets an even more angerier look on his face. He then grabs a tentacle. ¡°What do you possibly expect to d- WHOA!¡±, Gallus responds.


    Saige talks as he grips the tentacle. ¡°Get this stupid friggin octopus outta here!¡± Saige then swings the entire whole octopus over himself and launches it back into the ocean as Gallus falls off it and lands in the street way.


    Gallus just sits there for a second, stunned at what just happened. Then Saige makes a step forward. ¡°RETREAAAT!!!¡±, Gallus shouts to his troops. ¡°Where are you running to!?¡±, shouts Saige as he runs after him. Gallus then jumps on the back of a demon running away, as Saige just tears through demon-after-demon to get to him. Gallus then starts climbing over demon heads to get ahead, then reaches the shore line and gets on a demon dolphin and rides out.


    Saige eventually reaches the shoreline, but is too late. ¡°Damn you, you bastard!¡±, shouts Saige. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and King Jesse join with Saige. King Jesse then puts a hand on Saige¡¯s shoulder and says, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. He won¡¯t be getting away with this. We will get him."

 Chapter 34

    Shows a crane formation group of royal guards on hoverbikes, as well as Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige on hoverbikes, in the back, going over the ocean. Together, it looks like a ¡°V¡± from the sky, with a few dots behind it. As everyone is charging out over the ocean, Saige is already angry and showing his horns and tail.


    Demon humanoids suddenly sprout out of the water on demon sharks, from the opposing direction. ¡°Everyone, take aim!¡±, the leading guard says. ¡°They¡¯re going to mess up the crane formation!¡±, says Mai. ¡°No they won¡¯t, if we fly high enough and gun them down below!¡±, says the lead guard. Guards aim their guns below, showing skill with one-hand riding while one-hand shooting with handguns, as they shoot at the demons below.


    ¡°Argh!¡±, ¡°Gah!¡±, the hit demon humanoids shout. Suddenly, a demon whale comes out of the water and blasts a spout of water from its head as a demon humanoid rides it out and takes out one of the guards, crashing them down below. ¡°Reinforce the formation!¡±, the lead guard shouts. ¡°Did they already know we were coming!?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Must¡¯ve spotted us from afar!¡±, says the lead guard.


    Two more whales show up to do that same spout trick. ¡°Everyone fly higher!¡±, the lead guard shouts. The group then fly high above the whales, to the point they can¡¯t be reached. ¡°The Demon¡¯s Tower! We¡¯re almost there!¡±, says a guard. ¡°That just makes me wonder, how¡¯d they build a tower in the middle of the sea?¡±, says Mai. ¡°Not sure, but-¡±, Gregory says, right before cutting himself off. All of them look to now see the tower rise out of the water, and see that it¡¯s attached to the back of a giant sea turtle.


    ¡°It¡¯s a giant freaking turtle!¡±, says Saige. ¡°I knew it was odd that it just floated in the middle of the ocean!¡±, says Mai. ¡°This changes everything. Board the turtle!¡±, says the lead guard. ¡°Wait, no, don¡¯t! What if it resubmerges!¡±, warns Mai. ¡°Don¡¯t board the turtle! Reach the tower!¡±, says the lead guard, recorrecting himself.


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    As they reach closer to the turtle, they see the turtle is facing them. Getting in closer, the turtle bites outward, taking down two guards on the right side of the crane formation.


    ¡°Damn! We¡¯ve been right flanked!¡±, the lead guard shouts. Demon humanoids then come out of the tower and get on the turtle''s back and shoot fireballs as the guards shoot too. One guard then gets knocked off his hoverbike. ¡°Saige! It¡¯s time to send you and the rest in!¡±, shouts the lead guard. ¡°Got it!¡±, says Saige.


    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige fly over to the foot of the demon tower, jump off and go inside. While inside, they hear Gallus echo off the walls, ¡°Ah, I see you¡¯ve arrived! But can you really reach me!¡±. They run up the steps of the demon tower, but then get stopped by a big demon crab. Saige, leading the way, dodges a strike from one of the crab. ¡°Hold on, if he controls them with a flute, the animals must be innocent in this.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Having a change of heart right now!?¡±, says Saige. ¡°I¡¯m just saying, Saige!¡±, shouts Mai. ¡°Damnit!¡±, says Saige, as he grabs the demon crab by the claw and swings it over his back and slams it upside down. The demon crab is now upside down and unable to get up.


    They then get to another upper floor of the demon tower and they encounter three demon humanoids that just start firing fireballs at them upon seeing them. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige take cover, down the stairs they¡¯re on. Saige growls, then takes off his gun, and runs up the stairs shooting at the demons, while slashing them up with his claws. The demons shriek and fall to the ground. ¡°Come on! We got to reach Gallus!¡±, says Saige toward his group. They then continue up the stairs.


    Meanwhile, outside, the guards on hoverbikes are firing at the demons on the turtle¡¯s back. Suddenly, there¡¯s then a big gush of water heard. ¡°What was that?¡±, the head guard says. That¡¯s then when the same giant reddish octopus, with Gallus riding it, climbs up the Demon Turtle and grabs a guard on a hoverbike and smashes it into another. ¡°E-Everyone, beware the octopus! Fire at it all at once!¡±, says the head guard. The guards fire, but the octopus just swiftly takes down more guards.


    Meanwhile, back with Saige, he¡¯s climbing up stairs with the rest of the group behind him. ¡°Where the hell is Gallus!¡±, Saige shouts. Gallus¡¯ voice echoes off the walls, ¡°Bwhahaha! I¡¯m just at the top floor! Try to catch me if you can!¡±. ¡°Why would he be doing this? Unless it¡¯s a trap.¡±, says Mai. ¡°No second guessing! We¡¯re clo-¡±, says Saige, right before stopping himself, after seeing what¡¯s at the top floor. All the group sees Is a recorder on a table, hooked to a desk announcement speaker microphone, playing Gallus¡¯ voice. Saige responds to this, saying, ¡°Son of a...!¡±


    Meanwhile, on the outside, the octopus grabs the tower, and detaches it like a puzzle piece off the turtle¡¯s shell, and throws it into the ocean. ¡°Good riddance.¡±, says Gallus on the octopus.

 Chapter 35

    The tower falls into the ocean. ¡°Good riddance.¡±, says Gallus. After the tower fell, it begins filling with water from it¡¯s bottom. Meanwhile, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are inside and have fallen over. They then begin hearing the gush of water around them.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on!?¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°I think we¡¯ve fallen into the ocean.¡±, says Mai. ¡°No! Damnit, how!?¡±, shouts Saige. ¡°Must¡¯ve been apart of Gallus¡¯ plan after leading us with the recording.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Hold on, I can punch us a way out.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Careful, if you do, you could sink us faster.¡±, says Mai.


    Mai tries standing upright, then points up and explains, ¡°Try to reach the top part there and punch our way out if you punch anywhere.¡± ¡°I could probably jump that, but you guys can¡¯t unless I carry you out.¡±, says Saige. Water then begins pouring into the room they¡¯re in, from the staircase way. ¡°Kay, hold on.¡± says Saige. Saige then jumps and tries punching the walling above them.


    ¡°Oh I heard that one.¡±, says Gallus, from the outside. ¡°Gallus!!¡±, says Saige. ¡°So you remember my name, but not my brother¡¯s. Oh how shameful!¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Gallus! I¡¯ll kill you with my own two hands once we get out of here!¡±, says Saige. Gallus then responds back, ¡°Don¡¯t make a promise you can¡¯t keep. Now I wouldn¡¯t waste my time punching out if I were you. That tower is made out of special demon turtle shelling. So if you want to come out, I don¡¯t think that would be possible, unless you swam. Bwhahaha!¡±. ¡°You bastard!¡±, says Saige. ¡°I know I am.¡±, says Gallus.


    ¡°Well, looks like we¡¯ll have to swim out.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Are you crazy!?¡±, says Saige. ¡°...Guess I am, huh.¡±, says Mai. Saige just sits down on the floor and ponders their situation. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m sorry, alright.¡±, says Saige. Gregory then chimes in, ¡°We¡¯re getting real desperate here, so how about this, Saige you keep trying to punch the same spot to get us out.¡±. ¡°Got it.¡±, says Saige as he readies his fist and aims for below himself. ¡°But not below us, up top.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Got it.¡±, says Saige as he jumps up and punches the walling above them.


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    Meanwhile, on the outside... ¡°The tower has fallen, I repeat, the tower has fallen! And Saige and the rest are trapped inside!¡±, says the lead guard. The lead guard talks, but all the rest of the guards are busy fighting demons on top the turtle¡¯s back. ¡°I¡¯ll try to rescue Saige.¡±, says the lead guard to himself. He then tries flying over, but gets caught by a tentacle and flies off his hoverbike and off on to the turtle¡¯s back, then ends up in a fight with several demons.


    Back with Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige, more water pours in. They¡¯re now swimming at torso deep. ¡°Now we really gotta get out of here somehow.¡±, says Mai. ¡°I¡¯m trying, but it¡¯s hard to jump.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Nevermind that, try striking the wall near us.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Okay.¡±, says Saige, as he tries striking the wall near them. Water then fills in more, and they start lifting up. ¡°How are we supposed to get out.¡±, says Mai. Saige tries striking the walling harder.


    Meanwhile, guards on the outside keep fighting demons, now using knives to do so. ¡°I need someone to strike open the tower.¡±, the lead guard says. A guard on a hoverbike flies over and starts shooting the walling with his handgun. ¡°Don¡¯t give up in the effort!¡±, says the lead guard. ¡°I¡¯m trying!¡±, says the shooting guard.


    Meanwhile, on the inside, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige hear the gunfire as the water has filled up to their heads. ¡°I think we¡¯re not gonna make it. I can hardly swim up.¡±, says Mai. ¡°No! Don¡¯t give up.¡±, says Saige. Kelsey then starts sinking under the water, then Mai sinks under next, then Gregory. Saige struggles then falls under the water as well. The four are now under the water with their eyes closed as the tower sinks under the ocean. Saige¡¯s eyes then open and become bloodshot. ¡°I can¡¯t give in! Not now!¡±, says Saige.


    Meanwhile, outside the tower... ¡°Sir, the tower¡¯s sunken down!¡±, says a guard. ¡°Damnit.¡±, says the lead guard. Suddenly, the ocean bubbles and Saige comes out of the ocean with bat-like red wings, holding everyone and coughing. He then lands them on the turtle¡¯s back, as they¡¯re unconscious. The lead guard runs over. ¡°You¡¯re okay. A-And you have wings.¡±, says the lead guard. ¡°Yeah. Please take care of them.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°What!? He can fly!? This is impossible. He grew wings. What are you!?¡±, says Gallus. ¡°I¡¯m the one who''s gonna kick your ass!!¡±, shouts Saige.

 Chapter 36

    Saige flies in one place, across from Gallus. Gallus then makes the octopus strike a tentacle toward Saige, but Saige dodges the strike. Saige then takes out his handgun and tries firing a couple of shots at Gallus, but Gallus uses the octopus¡¯ tentacle to block the shots. The octopus then strikes again, but Saige dodges in time, again. Gallus then notices Saige¡¯s friends recovering on the turtle¡¯s back and uses his octopus to swipe at them, while swiping his own demon enforcement with them. ¡°Don¡¯t take this personally, my soldiers!¡±, says Gallus.


    Everyone yells in panic as the tentacle is about to sweep across the turtle¡¯s back to swish people off. ¡°Here it comes!¡±, shouts Mai. Saige, noticing this move, then swoops in, in front of the tentacle, and stops it from moving. ¡°Could you even be more of a bastard!?¡±, yells Saige. ¡°Saige, remember the animal is innocent! Gallus is the guilty one controlling it!¡±, says Mai. ¡°Ha ha and you can never reach me too!, says Gallus.


    The octopus then raises its tentacles in intimidation and slams on the ground a couple of times, making people bounce up. Saige then flies in close to the octopus¡¯ face and punches it, causing the octopus to stop. ¡°Saige!¡±, says Mai. ¡°I know I know, but by punching it, what if I can knock it out!?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Go for it Saige!¡±, shouts Kelsey, while giving a thumbs up. ¡°That¡¯s what I like to hear!¡±, says Saige. Saige then does an array of punches into the octopus¡¯ face, and the octopus tries to swipe Saige away, but Saige keeps dodging and laying in punches. Eventually, Saige then uppercuts the octopus and it falls backward. ¡°Oh my goodness, I need to get off!¡±, says Gallus as he jumps for it onto the turtle¡¯s back. The octopus then falls off the turtle and into the ocean. Meanwhile, Gallus tries hiding in the crowd.


    Saige tries to spot him from above, but can¡¯t do it. And so he yells, ¡°Gallus!! Where are you hiding!?¡±. Gregory then finds and steps infront of Gallus and holds onto him by the arms. ¡°H-Hey let go of me!¡±, Gallus shouts. Saige then lands a few feet near Gallus. ¡°D-Don¡¯t kill me!¡±, says Gallus. As this happens, the demons clear the way for Saige. ¡°What!? You scoundrels! How could you betray me!?¡±, says Gallus. The guards also stand there, while not attacking, watching the demons clear the way, in disbelief.


    ¡°They probably remember earlier of you trying to kill them.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°N-No. This can¡¯t be happening!¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Oh it is.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige, also, don¡¯t kill him. He could be useful in answering our questions. We need him alive for that.¡±, says Gregory. Saige just stands there stunned abit, then responds back to him. ¡°Are you for real!? After all he¡¯s done!?¡±.


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    Gregory further explains, ¡°We still need to find Azrael or more like this will happen. There¡¯s war, but then there¡¯s the common sense of the matter and remembering the mission. We need to hold him in a prison cell for further questioning.¡±. Saige is in disbelief that this is happening, but thinks it over. ¡°Fine¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°Hehehe ahahahaha!!¡±, laughs Gallus. ¡°What¡¯s so funny!?¡±, asks Saige, with an annoyed tone. ¡°Fools, this turtle we are on is going for a direct course back to the island! If you don¡¯t let me go, then it¡¯ll never stop!¡±, says Gallus.


    ¡°You son of a...¡±, says Saige, right before being cut off. ¡°So what¡¯s it going to be!?¡±, says Gallus. Saige then flies up and looks to see that it¡¯s true and the island is coming in close distance of them. Saige then flies back down and warns, saying, ¡°It¡¯s true! It¡¯s been heading toward the island this entire time!¡±. ¡°Oh no.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°So what¡¯s it going to be!¡±, says Gallus.


    Saige then just looks at his flute, grabs it, then snaps it. ¡°W-W-WHAAATT!?¡±, says Gallus in utter disbelief in what just happened. ¡°You idiot! You really are an idiot, aren¡¯t you!?¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Keep talking and I¡¯ll snap your neck next.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Saige.¡±, Gregory says, trying to hold him back. ¡°That flute keeps the turtle at it¡¯s size and under my control. Without it, the turtle will shrink and we¡¯ll fall into the ocean!¡±, Gallus explains.


    ¡°How small was the turtle?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Before, it was a normal sized sea turtle!! So rather small compared to this!¡±, says Gallus. Guards begin hopping onto their hoverbikes. ¡°We need to get off this turtle.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Aah! It¡¯s already shrinking!¡±, says Mai. As this happens, the demons also start to panic and steal hoverbikes.


    ¡°Wait, we were close, we might make it to the shore in time.¡±, says Saige. ¡°You sure?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Just about.¡±, says Saige. The turtle reaches the beach and people start getting flinged off the turtle. The turtle then shrinks and is just now an average sized sea turtle, on a beach shore. Everyone appears to be okay, as Gregory still has Gallus gripped by the arms.


    Later on, police are on the beach as Gallus is in handcuffs. And the police are bringing demon humanoids into armoured vans, while they¡¯re in handcuffs, as Gallus is among them.


    As this happens, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Saige and King Jesse stand on the sidelines watching. ¡°Well that should be the end of that.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Thank you four so much for your help.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry about it.¡±, says Saige. Mai then cuts in, ¡°So Saige, you learned how to fly.¡±. ¡°Just like a superhero!¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Yeah. Somehow I got the power to fly now.¡±, says Saige. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to get you to learn how to harness that power.¡±, says Mai.


    ¡°Mai¡¯s right.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Well until then, we have gotten into the spirit of throwing you a celebration, Saige and friends.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°And we¡¯re still the entourage.¡±, says Mai. King Jesse then continues, ¡°It will be a celebration and mourning of life.¡±. ¡°Sweet.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit disrespectful to the lives lost.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Nah, that¡¯s just how we do it down here. Now come on, let¡¯s start a party.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Alright, but first, we should make sure Gallus makes it to a cell.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Sure.¡±, says King Jesse.

 Chapter 37

    Gallus is in a cell, behind bars, in a special room where there¡¯s only one cell. As he is, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Saige and King Jesse are there as well. ¡°Alright, tell us what you know.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°About what?¡±, asks Galus. ¡°The whereabouts of Azrael.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°A-Azrael!? Why would you wanna know where he¡¯s located?¡±, asks Gallus. Gregory explains, ¡°To make sure to put an end to this all. We want to know where your head honcho is.¡±. ¡°Well I¡¯ll never tell you.¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Well we have ways to extract information.¡±, says Gregory.


    Suddenly, the lights go out and it becomes dark. The only things illuminating the room are a few barred windows. ¡°That¡¯s odd.¡±, says Gregory. King Jesse then gets a ring on his cell phone. He reaches into his pocket and takes the call and says, ¡°Hello?¡±. ¡°Your majesty, we have an intruder in here at the jailing site. They look like a part-bird part-man, and they¡¯ve already taken out seve- GAH!¡±, says the guard on the line, right before getting cut off.


    ¡°Hello! Guard!¡±, says King Jesse, but he hears nothing back. ¡°Looks like something dealt with him. Let¡¯s get ready for this thing.¡±, says Gregory. Gregory transforms his hand into a cannon, Kelsey, Mai and Saige take out their guns. ¡°Oh you¡¯re in trouble now. Looks like they¡¯ve come to rescue me.¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Or kill you.¡±, says Saige. ¡°They¡¯d never. A demon general of my caliber?¡±, states Gallus. ¡°That¡¯s how your brother died.¡±, says Mai. ¡°You lie!¡±, Gallus responds. Mai explains, ¡°That¡¯s what you say and I know what Saige said before, but what really happened is that we had him tied to a tree, then a part bird part man showed up and killed him.¡±. ¡°W-What!?¡±, says Gallus.


    ¡°Here they come now. How about this, tell us where Azrael is hiding and we¡¯ll protect you.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Huh!?¡±, responds Gallus. ¡°You lie! How can I trust you!? He¡¯s probably here to save me.¡±, says Gallus. A feather, at quick speed, goes flying in between the bars and almost hits Gallus, but pins the wall instead. Gallus witnesses and slowly turns his head to the feather in the wall. ¡°Guh. GAAAAAAH!!¡±, Gallus screams.


    ¡°Looks like I missed.¡±, says the birdman demon. ¡°Why are you trying to kill me, I haven¡¯t said Azrael¡¯s coordinates!!¡±, shouts Gallus. ¡°But there¡¯s a chance you could. Also, Azrael doesn¡¯t like when his demon generals lose. So this will be it for you.¡±, says the birdman. Gallus backs up to the wall with fear.


    ¡°So how about it, you believe us now?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Alright alright, I¡¯ll tell you if you protect me!¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Tsk. Traitor.¡±, says the birdman. ¡°Traitor!? You tried to kill me!¡±, says Gallus. The birdman responds, ¡°And whose to say that wasn¡¯t a test that you failed just now. Now I¡¯m definitely going to kill you. And I won''t miss this time.¡±. ¡°I¡¯ll see about that!¡±, says Gregory.


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    Gregory shoots cannon shots at the birdman, multiple times, but the bird man dodges the shots. Then Kelsey, Mai and Saige join in shooting him with their handguns. The birdman hides behind a pillar, then launches out feathers from a one winged swipe. The group get stabbed by some of the feathers, but still manage to stand.


    The group then slightly split up to cover more ground. The birdman then runs out from behind the pillar and wing swipes out feathers again, specifically toward Gregory, but Gregory disintegrates them with a blast and then he keeps blasting as the birdman jumps around the room. Gregory then goes in to punch the birdman in the face, and he gets blocked with one hand. The birdman then launches feathers from his chest into Gregory¡¯s chest.


    ¡°Hnn!¡±, says Gregory, wincing in pain. ¡°Gregory!¡±, says Mai. Gregory then tries headbutting the birdman and it works and makes them both stumble back. Suddenly the birdman runs up and holds Gregory up by the neck.


    ¡°No!¡±, says Kelsey, Mai and Saige. Saige then grows horns and a tail, and runs up then kicks the birdman back. The birdman feels the kick, but then goes into a fighting stance, where his hands are open toward his viewing direction.


    The birdman then speaks, ¡°I¡¯m curious, Saige. You have demon blood in your veins, I wonder how well you know how to use it.¡±. ¡°I¡¯m not a demon!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Ha ha, not a demon? Then what are you? Demon horns, demon tail and even demon wings earlier and yet you still deny it.¡±, says the birdman.


    ¡°Demon wings? Wait, have you been following us!?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Oh, perhaps I¡¯ve said too much.¡±, says the birdman. ¡°Who sent you?¡±, says Saige. ¡°Well Azrael himself, of course. You¡¯ve been causing too much trouble and so I had to monitor over your actions.¡±, says the birdman. ¡°In that case, let¡¯s capture you! And see what you know!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Let¡¯s see you try.¡±, says the birdman.


    Saige runs up to attack, then the birdman gets a few solid punches into Saige¡¯s chest, causing Saige to drop on his knees. Saige then gets up to attack again, but gets kicked down. Saige then gets up again and tries running around the Birdman, and pouncing at him from behind, but the birdman just kicks Saige up in the air, punches him in the face coming down, then grabs him by the collar and slams him into a wall and holds him up there.


    ¡°Gnn! How?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°I¡¯m just a superior fighter. Now then...¡±, says the birdman as he aims his arm at Gallus. ¡°No.¡±, says Saige, in a weakened state. The birdman shoots multiple feathers through the bars and Gallus falls over. ¡°NOOO!¡±, shouts Saige. ¡°And that should be all. Now then...¡±, says the birdman, right before punching Saige in the gut, then running out.


    Saige crawls over to Gallus¡¯ cell. Gallus coughs, while bleeding out from the neck and chest. ¡°You¡¯re.. still alive.¡±, says Saige. King Jesse comes out from behind a pillar. ¡°Everyone¡¯s still fine, that¡¯s goo-¡±, says King Jesse, right before getting cut off by Saige. ¡°Shhh shutup. Gallus, tell me where Azrael is hiding.¡±, says Saige. ¡°He.. killed my brother and now.. he killed me. I¡¯m not going to make it.¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Hey if you want revenge, then I¡¯ll do it for ya. Just tell me where he¡¯s hiding.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Fine. It¡¯s at.. D-... Diamante.. Kingdom.¡±, says Gallus. ¡°Thank you.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Just get revenge.. for me.. and him.¡±, says Gallus. Gallus then dies right there.

 Chapter 38

    Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are at King Jesse¡¯s residence, just in front of the building. ¡°Unfortunate that you couldn¡¯t keep Gallus alive.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Yeaah. And that birdman turned out stronger than we thought.¡±, says Saige. Gregory then cuts in, ¡°At least we know now where Azrael is hiding, but that birdman...¡±, Gregory looks to the sky and continues, ¡°...could be hiding out anywhere.¡±


    ¡°Either way, I want to thank you for all you¡¯ve done. Let me throw you a party.¡±, says King Jesse. ¡°Okay!¡±, says Saige. ¡°I guess we have enough time to celebrate one.¡±, says Gregory. Saige jumps in the air and shouts, ¡°Yeah!¡±.


    It then shows them in a parade, with Saige on a float. ¡°Yeaaah!!¡±, yells Saige. Suddenly, he hears Mai from the distance. ¡°Saige.. Saaaigee... Wake up!¡±. Saige wakes up. To his surprise, he¡¯s sleeping on the couch at Gregory¡¯s quarters.


    ¡°What, what happened to the parade? Don¡¯t tell me it was all just a dream.¡±, asks Saige. ¡°The parade??¡±, asks Mai. Saige nods. ¡°We never had a parade, remember, we couldn¡¯t party.¡±, says Mai. ¡°What!?¡±, says Saige, kinda shocked. Mai continues, ¡°Yeah Gregory said we couldn¡¯t, cause we needed to go home quick to hunt Azrael. How did you think... well you did sleep most of the ride.¡±.


    In quick time, Saige heads over to Gregory¡¯s room and bangs on the door. Gregory opens the door. ¡°Huh, Saige.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°You old bastard, how come you say we couldn¡¯t stay for the parade!? I have half a mind to strangle you!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Heh, I¡¯d like to see you try, but it¡¯s cause we need to look after Azrael, pronto. And we need to start training too.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°More training!? Are you a mad man!?¡±, asks Saige. Gregory explains, ¡°No, perhaps you¡¯re the one who¡¯s not mad enough. Remember back when we fought that birdman. He was much stronger than us. If we were to face him again, and even Azrael for that matter, we need to be stronger. As well as get a strong crew. So we¡¯re going to travel to Diamante Kingdom next to fight Azrael, but first we¡¯re training.¡±


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    ¡°Right.¡±, says Saige, looking down while realizing the direness of the situation. ¡°Looks like you got the point Saige.¡±, says Mai, whose suddenly come up behind him. ¡°King Jesse also said he¡¯d be willing to help us too. Once we find him.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Really? What a guy.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Yeah, he even gave me a phone to contact him. But yeah, first thing is training.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°So how are we going to train again? Spar against each other?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°No. We¡¯re travelling to another kingdom to learn martial arts.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°What¡¯s martial arts?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°And what kingdom?¡±, asks Mai. Gregory answers, ¡°Martial arts is partially what I know, trained to me from the war time. It¡¯s a skill of using a special style of hand-to-hand combat in-order to defeat your enemy. We¡¯ll be going to the Emerald Kingdom to learn it, which is just on the way to Diamante Kingdom. And General Richter already approved us doing so. We¡¯re also, like I was saying earlier, grabbing more people to help us.¡±.


    ¡°Is Jax and Roman joining us?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Yes, as well as others.¡±, Gregory confirms. ¡°Oh okay, cool.¡±, says Saige. ¡°In the meanwhile, you should check on Kelsey.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Why?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°She¡¯s beating herself up abit on what happened before.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°I¡¯ll check up on her.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Me too.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be resting if you need me.¡±, says Gregory. He then closes the door and goes to lay back down.


    Saige and Mai look around the base for Kelsey, but don¡¯t seem to be able to find her. Eventually though, through searching outside Strife Village, they find her training on a tree. Kelsey kicks the tree numerous times and punches the tree. Saige talks to her, ¡°You¡¯re already starting on training. Greg said...¡±. Kelsey cuts him off, ¡°I know. We train in Emerald Kingdom, but I was useless in that battle with the birdman. And when we almost died drowning in that tower. How can I be a reliable hero if I can¡¯t provide any tips, or use my muscle or generally provide backup for my friends...¡± She tears up from under her helmet and continues. ¡°...Gregory and you White Talon almost died.¡±


    Mai hugs Kelsey from behind. ¡°It¡¯s okay Kelsey, we will become strong, but it should be us becoming strong together.¡±, says Mai. Kelsay sniffles, then Mai continues, ¡°In the meanwhile, maybe Kelsey¡¯s right, we should train before going to the Emerald Kingdom. You especially, Saige, should learn how to activate your powers.¡±.


    ¡°Me? I just get mad and they come out. Works so far.¡±, says Saige. ¡°But that¡¯s not reliable enough!¡±, says Mai. ¡°Okay okay, we¡¯ll train my powers too. Calm down.¡±, says Saige.

 Chapter 39

    Things take place near a forest, just outside of Strife Village. Saige is crouching and shaking, while Mai is nearby. Then Saige breathes out. ¡°Come on Saige, I know you can do it.¡±, says Mai. ¡°It¡¯s not working.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Well try to get angry. Maybe think of a past event.¡±, says Mai. ¡°My past usually makes me sad, not angry.¡±, says Saige.


    At the while, Kelsey is running around the forest practising and shooting at trees. ¡°Kelsey, it¡¯s better to practice on the target range. You could hit someone.¡±, says Mai.


    Meanwhile, with Gregory, he¡¯s at a meeting table with General Richter and Father Terrance. ¡°Why is this the first I¡¯m hearing about it?¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Calm down, I just heard about it yesterday, from Gregory.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Yes. We have Azrael¡¯s rounded location. It¡¯s in Diamante Kingdom.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°At least he¡¯s not here, but why would he hide that far out? And in snow lands for that matter. Demons hate snow.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Well demons hate water too, yet we found them there as well.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°The problem is that the king of Diamante won¡¯t let us in that easily.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°That¡¯s right. King Desmond. You know how he¡¯s doing these days?¡±, asks Gregory.


    General Richter responds, ¡°Can¡¯t say I do. Never checked in on him. But I¡¯d imagine he¡¯s still a rude tyrant as he¡¯s always been.¡± Gregory sighs then speaks, ¡°So how do we plan to let this plan work of rushing his front door? He might think we¡¯re lying about Azrael to get in.¡±. ¡°I was thinking we could sneak in.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°With security as tight as his?¡±, says Gregory.


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    ¡°Maybe disguise ourselves as a transport truck of food. We know how King Desmond likes to eat.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°This will be a very difficult mission.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°That old fat bastard. I got nothing, but I¡¯m thinking that food truck plan may be good.¡±, says Father Terrance. Gregory adds on, ¡°Well we couldn¡¯t use one of our own trucks. We¡¯d have to hijack one that fits typical detail for Diamante Kingdom. I¡¯d say we also need somewhere to hide inside Diamante Kingdom. Like a secret contact.¡±.


    ¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have that luxury. Does anybody here know someone inside Diamante Kingdom?¡±, asks General Richter. Everyone remains quiet. ¡°Yeah, like I said.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°We also have the problem of being followed.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°You¡¯re just going to have to deal with that too.¡±, says General Richter. Gregory complains, ¡°So it¡¯s up to us and a large group to hijack a means inside, avoid this spy bird-man and to find a living quarters inside a snowy kingdom.¡±


    ¡°The best we can do is provide top tier vehicles for your first stop in Emerald Kingdom, but that¡¯s the best I got.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°Unless, perhaps you find someone in Emerald Kingdom who could help with finding a contact in Diamante Kingdom.¡±, says Father Terrance. ¡°Right, that could work, ask around Emerald Kingdom, but don¡¯t let anyone know the plan. And especially don¡¯t let Emerald Kingdom¡¯s Queen, Queen Evelin, find out.¡±, says General Richter.


    ¡°Right.. Thanks, I guess.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Well I believe that¡¯s it. Meet adjourned.¡±, says General Richter.

 Chapter 40

    Gregory, Kelsey and Mai salute toward Gregory in Gregory¡¯s living room. ¡°We¡¯re ready!¡±, says Mai. ¡°Ready to kick some ass sir!¡±, says Saige. ¡°And to show off the qualities of a hero!¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°That¡¯s good, but remember, this mission is a secret. So don¡¯t blurt it out loud.¡±, says Gregory.


    They then exit Gregory¡¯s quarters and enter the underground garage, where they meet Roman, Jax and several others, as well as General Richter. ¡°Whoa, alot of people.¡±, says Saige. ¡°It¡¯s like the whole family¡¯s here.¡±, says Mai. Roman and Jax then greet them and handshake Gregory. ¡°Roman and Jax!¡±, says Saige. ¡°Eh, there¡¯s the little pipsqueak.¡±, says Roman. ¡°Who you calling a pipsqueak?¡±, says Saige. The two then stare each other down. ¡°Stop, we¡¯re on the same side, remember.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Ha, let them be.¡±, says Gregory.


    Mai then faces Jax and asks, ¡°How are you doing Jax?¡±. ¡°Cool.¡±, Jax responds. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear.¡±, says Mai. ¡°So many heroes gathered into one place. It¡¯s got me pumped up!¡±, says Kelsey.


    General Richter then stands on top of a car and shouts, ¡°Okay, everyone gather around!¡±. ¡°Oh General Richter¡¯s about to make an announcement.¡±, says Mai. Everyone then gathers up. General Richter starts speaking, ¡°Azrael, that¡¯s who we¡¯re going for today. But approaching this won¡¯t be an easy task. For who knows what type or amount of demon we¡¯ll be dealing with blocking our way. And then there¡¯s facing Azrael for that matter. It will be best fought if we did it together. Now, as some of you may know, and the rest of you I¡¯m telling now, Azrael is located in Diamante Kingdom.¡±


    Random chatter about Diamante Kingdom arises among them.


    General Richter continues, ¡°Yes, I know. I know. It¡¯s a pain in the ass we¡¯re dealing with. On top of that, what I hear is we have a spy working directly for Azrael too. Now these are some seemingly impossible odds, but that¡¯s why we have a strategy. We¡¯ll be leaving after dusk at different times from each team heading, on a track for the Emerald Kingdom. Upon reaching the Emerald Kingdom, you¡¯ll strategize by asking around others for a way to get into Diamante Kingdom. But don¡¯t let anyone catch onto the plan.¡±


    People begin to bicker and complain.


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    General Richter continues more, ¡°Hey it¡¯s the best plan we got! Now settle down! If that fails, we hijack food trucks going into Diamante Kingdom. Got it.


    People talk about food trucks like it¡¯s a silly strategy


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan! That¡¯s how we¡¯ll see it through!¡±, says General Richter. ¡°I knew people wouldn¡¯t agree with it.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Once inside Diamante Kingdom, we begin the search for Azrael.¡±, says General Richter. ¡°What about finding a place to settle!?¡±, asks Roman. ¡°I leave that up to you all.¡±, says General Richter.


    People just bicker and complain more loudly.


    ¡°This is the best plan we got! If anyone else has a better strategy then state it.¡±, says General Richter.


    Everyone shuts up


    ¡°No? That¡¯s what I thought. Now get ready. We leave at dusk.¡±, says General Richter.


    Later on, as it gets nearer to the time of dusk, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai, Saige, Roman and Jax are near old Betty, the junker buggy, in the garage. ¡°This plan is gonna suck.¡±, says Roman. ¡°I agree.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°But hey, at least we¡¯ll get to kick some Azrael ass.¡±, says Saige. Roman chimes in, ¡°If we manage to reach Azrael. Oi the bugger may even over hear our plan before we move in. Then you¡¯ll got us caught being stood up in Diamante Kingdom, of all places.¡±. ¡°Why do you talk about Diamante Kingdom like it¡®s real bad?¡±, asks Saige.


    Roman starts to explain, ¡°Let me tell you a story Saige. There was a war, before the Human Demon War called the War Of The Five Kingdoms-¡±. ¡°Already heard it.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Damn, from who?¡±, asks Roman. ¡°From King Jesse.¡±, says Saige. Roman goes on, ¡°Well la-di-da, boy got told a story from the mouth of royalty. Well let me not go into detail then. Anyway, skipping to Diamante Kingdom, they are ruthless money beggars in power, who tax their people into the ground.¡±. ¡°Tax?¡±, asks Saige.


    Roman explains, ¡°It¡¯s when you make people pay extra to the government, ontop of what they¡¯re already paying. Ontop of that, their government system was corrupt back in the day and the king lived filthy rich as the civilians lived in a poor state.¡±. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound fair.¡±, says Saige.


    Roman continues, ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t. And since the Human and Demon War, the king¡¯s son who took over, ¡®King Desmond¡¯, has apparently continued to treat the kingdom the same way¡±. ¡°Why don¡¯t people just beat him up?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°Eh, I dunno. People lost their spirits and the government is too strong for them.¡±, says Roman. ¡°Oh yeah, well what if I came in?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°You do that and King Desmond will have your head. He was notorious for taking off the heads of people who disagreed with the government.¡±, says Roman.


    ¡°Damn. So he¡¯s like a demon himself.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Like a demon, yes.¡±, says Roman. ¡°I gotta learn more of the War Of The Five Kingdoms by sometime. ¡°, says Mai. ¡°Did you serve in the war.¡±, asks Kelsey. ¡°Ha, oh no. That war was long done, before the Human and Demon War started.¡±, says Roman. Roman then looks at his digital watch. ¡°Well we gotta get going. Gotta head out at our designated time. Come on Jax.¡±, says Roman. ¡°Alright alright.¡±, says Jax. The two then leave and wave goodbye, as Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige wave goodbye back.


    ¡°Almost time for us to leave too.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°This is really going to be an adventure.¡±, says Kelsey. ¡°Yup, a very dangerous adventure. Hope you¡¯re ready.¡±, says Gregory.

 Chapter 41

    *Saige is sleeping in the back of old Betty, then all the sudden, there¡¯s a bump in the road that bounces up the car. Saige then gets awakened up. ¡°Ah! Hey, what¡¯s going on?¡±, he says. ¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡±, says Mai. ¡°To where again?¡±, asks Saige. ¡°The Emerald Kingdom.¡±, says Mai. ¡°The Emerald Kingdom, huh? Good. I¡¯m going back to sleep.¡±, says Saige.


    Kelsey then slaps him awake. ¡°Kelsey, the hell!?¡±, says Saige. ¡°White Talon, you gotta be awake for this mission. Remember, Az-¡±, says Kelsey, right before getting cut off by Gregory. ¡°Ah! SHUSH! Remember, we could be getting followed.¡±. ¡°Why don¡¯t we just shoot that ass out of the sky?¡±, asks Saige with a slightly irritated look from being awoken. ¡°You don¡¯t think I thought of that? I haven¡¯t seen anything in the sky for hours. Well there were flying demons, but I shot them down.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Nice. Well whatever, let¡¯s just get to Emerald Kingdom.¡±, says Saige.


    The crew finishes driving to the Emerald Kingdom and drive into the city. The crew look out the window to see maybe two or three skyscrapers, but mainly buildings of about two to three stories around, as the Emerald Kingdom generally looks like a humble urban city. ¡°Whoa another city.¡±, says Saige. There¡¯s then demons in casual clothes walking down a sidewalk. ¡°Ah! Demons!¡±, shouts Mai. Mai aims the car turret at them and fires.


    ¡°Ah, what the hell!?¡±, says one of the demons. The group of demons then runs off around a corner. Let¡¯s pursue them!, says Mai. A police officer immediately pursues them from the city gate, and stands in front of their car. ¡°Stop your fire this instant!¡±, says the police officer. ¡°But there¡¯s demons getting away!¡±, says Mai. ¡°I know you must be confused, but they are civilians.¡±, says the police officer.


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    ¡°Civilia- what?¡±, says Mai. Saige then cuts in, ¡°You probably didn¡¯t see what we saw, officer, so let me tell you again. Those were demons! D-E-M-O-N-S! And they¡¯re getting away!¡± The police officer looks at them sternly.


    Later on, the crew stand in a parking lot with old Betty and the police chief nearby. ¡°So you¡¯re telling me these demons are civilians.¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Yes.¡±, says the police officer. ¡°And they weren¡¯t humans transformed into those demons?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°No.¡±, says the police officer. ¡°Just regular demons.¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Yes.¡±, says the police officer. Mai and Saige give the officer a weird look.


    The officer further explains, ¡°Listen, we know, as newcomers, that it¡¯s weird sounding, but in the Emerald Kingdom we welcome demons to make a new life for themself.¡± ¡°Oh this is some bull. How are you allowing demons to live here?¡±, says Saige.


    The officer continues to explain, ¡°After the war, demons didn¡¯t have another place to go after the defeat of Azrael. So they roamed the Earth, finding random means to survive, picking fights. Then, suddenly, our own leader, Queen Evelin, stumbled upon a Demon settlement outside the kingdom.¡± ¡°A demon settlement?¡±, asks Mai.


    The officer continues, ¡°That¡¯s right. This settlement was actually a stable place, but it was in a poor condition. Queen Evelin then wanted to offer the demons better living conditions and so she offered them to stay in the Emerald Kingdom. At first, our human populus feared them, but through embracing our virtues of freedom and respect for our fellow beings, humans learned to live with demons. And now, here we are.


    ¡°That¡¯s quite a story.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Well it¡¯s quite true. You know it¡¯s a good thing we stopped you when you did or we could¡¯ve put you down for a murder charge.¡±, says the police officer. ¡°Damn.¡±, says Saige. ¡°I mean we already arrested a couple of people today too for doing the near same thing.¡±, says the officer. ¡°A couple of.. wait wait, did they have cars like ours?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Why yes they did.¡±, says the officer. ¡°Where are these people now?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Like I said, arrested. They¡¯re in jail now.¡±, says the officer. ¡°Jail!?¡±, says the crew in unison.

 Chapter 42

    We see Jax and Roman in a jail cell. A guard then walks up to the cell. ¡°You two have visitors.¡±, the guard says. Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige stroll up. ¡°Oi, it¡¯s Saige, Greg, Mai and Miss helmet.¡±, says Roman. ¡°Miss Helmet?¡±, says Kelsey, questioningly. ¡°Eh, work with what you get.¡±, says Roman. ¡°We¡¯re here to get you out of here.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Get them out?¡±, asks the guard. ¡°Yeah well, is there a bail we can pay?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°Yes, but they should be getting out soon after 24 hours.¡±, says the guard. ¡°Really? So what are you two in for?¡±, asks Gregory. ¡°We murdered a demon with a car turret.¡±, says Roman. ¡°I almost did that.¡±, says Mai. ¡°Nice.¡±, says Roman.


    The guard then chimes in, ¡°Not very nice. Those demons are civilians. And even though they rehealed themselves, that still isn¡¯t good to do.¡± ¡°The way I see it...¡±, says Roman, right before getting cut off by Saige whispering to him. ¡°Hey, you wanna serve more jail time?¡±. ¡°Saige has a point for once, which is scary. You¡¯re better off shutting your mouth.¡±, says Gregory.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for this! To have me and my mates socked into cells for slaying demons like we should be doing.¡±, says Roman. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re really going to need to be straightened out by Queen Evelin.¡±, says the guard. ¡°Now you¡¯ve done it.¡±, says Gregory. The guard further explains, ¡°Oh. No. Either way he was going to be set straight by Queen Evelin. It¡¯s what happens after you finish your 24 hour containment.¡± ¡°Is that what¡¯s happening to the whole crew?¡±, asks Roman. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s right.¡±, says the guard.


    ¡°Bollocks.¡±, says Roman.


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    ¡°We¡¯ll come back to check on you guys, after 24 hours.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry about us, I guess.¡±, says Roman. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine. Come on gang.¡±, says Gregory. Gregory, Kelsey, Saige and Mai then leave.


    Later on, the four stroll up to a hotel counter. ¡°We¡¯d like to pay for a room.¡±, says Gregory. In another moment, the four enter a luxurious hotel room with two queen beds. ¡°You know, this is nice and all, but I already miss the beds at Aurum Kingdom.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Don¡¯t get too settled in, into the cushy lifestyle or you may end up like King Desmond.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Don¡¯t think I could just take off people¡¯s heads at will.¡±, says Saige. Mai then goes and rests on top of one of the beds. ¡°Don¡¯t get settled in yet, we need to make room.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°That¡¯s right, we only got two beds and there¡¯s four of us.¡±, says Saige.


    ¡°This is simple, me and Mai will get one bed and Kelsey and Saige you¡¯ll get the other.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°Wait what if Kelsey and Me get a bed and you and Saige share one.¡±, says Mai. Saige then chimes in, ¡°Better arrangement, me and Mai...¡±. ¡°I¡¯ll stop you right there. We¡¯re not sharing a bed.¡±, says Mai. ¡°What, what made you think.. uh... I wasn¡¯t going to say that.¡±, says Saige. ¡°Oh what were you going to say?¡±, asks Mai. ¡°Ah forget the whole damn thing.¡±, says Saige.


    Gregory then speaks over everyone. ¡°At this point, we¡¯ll get nowhere. How about we flip a coin to determine this.¡±. ¡°A coin? You have one?¡±, says Mai. ¡°It¡¯s an old relic, but yeah I do¡±, says Gregory as he takes it out. ¡°This coin features the face of the old king of Sapphire Kingdom, King Riley.¡±, says Gregory. ¡°So that¡¯s Sapphire Kingdom¡¯s ruler¡¯s name. Whatever happened to him?¡±, says Saige. ¡°He died during the Human and Demon War.¡±, says Gregory.


    Gregory continues on, ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s do it this way. Each one of us will flip the coin. Whatever side it lays facing up depends on the bed we get. Heads, if it lands up on King Riley¡¯s head, it¡¯s the first bed. Tails, which is what we call the other side of the coin, if it lands facing upward on that side, it¡¯s the second bed. I¡¯ll go first.¡±. Gregory flips the coin.


    Later on, shows Gregory and Saige sleeping next to each other as Gregory snores. Saige whispers, ¡°Stupid coin.¡±