Going distance: A Homecoming approach

Ch-2

Going distance:

A Homecoming approach

The three rush to Claws' side immediately from the shores. Katty checks on Elena's temperature, a high fever-pitched in, and the crew onboard panics. Alistor and his team quickly guide them to the nearest hospital located in the Kingdom by Capital City. Claws hold her in his arms, following their lead.

"Oh, this isn't good. Hold on there."

Alistor tries assuring him from their worries as they quickly make pace through the fields. Claws then lose balance and trip, but the others took action. Zolhalla shoves Katty in reaction for the priestess to land on him. They made their way through the gates of Capital City. They were followed by the whole crowd from the priestess' ship.

"Right this way, we're almost there," Katty announced.

Alistor and his team soon spot Tannen from a distance in town. Tannen is on break enjoying a cup of tea at a table while reading the newspaper. The noise of a rushing crowd soon catches his attention. He takes a closer focus noticing Alistor and the others carrying a woman in distress. The group passes in a glimpse when Katty suddenly loses his balance and gets trampled by the crowd behind.

"What?"

Katty flinched for the moment on the ground. However, he soon regains his total balance entirely like it was nothing.

"Sorry, no time to explain. We'll explain everything later." He runs off to catch up with Alistor and the rest.

They arrive barging at the hospital doors, where Elena was taken by the doctors for medical attention immediately. Claws and the others wait at the front desks hoping for the best.

"So, who are you?" Alistor asked.

"Oh, sorry… How rude of me not to introduce myself. The name is Claws. I am one of the knights from the region of Anneria. I serve under Priestess Elena."

"So, what happened to you guys?" Katty asked. "You all seem pretty beat up."

Claws paused for the moment in silence, shutting his eyes.

"They came from the midst of the ocean's floor. Our kingdom, Anneria, was attacked by a force of demons. A massive tide came crashing at our walls; we tried to fight back but stood no chance. Their numbers overwhelmed us, and so we gathered as many survivors as possible then fled."

"I'm sorry. Must have been hard." Alistor said.

"Who could have done this? Any idea on the enemy?" Zolhalla questioned.

Claws pondered for a brief moment. Then, trying to recall any specific details on the foe that attacked them, Claws suddenly reached out for a scrap of paper from the desk.

"Let me draw this symbol for you guys. Maybe this will give us an idea."

He scribbled on the piece of paper, showed it to them, and surprised Alistor. They had an idea who it was immediately, even from a poorly drawn scribble.

"That's the Aggerona Empire," Alistor said.

"We fought with them before," Katty mentioned.

They were all open up in ears; he took a look at the door noticing Tannen watching from outside.

"It was nearly two years ago. The Aggerona Empire arrived over my school with that labyrinth. Since then our school has been permanently closed. They were originally imprisoned within a mirror, but this fiend who goes by Mr. Rare approached me with it. I had no idea what I was getting involved in once it shattered."

He recalls his time with Bamboo and the rest. Various battle scenes replay from the back of his mind.

"They were the first enemies I've faced with Katty. It's been a long battle, but my team nearly collected all the mirror pieces from each demon general. Unfortunately, Vilevelious was their leader at the time, and I came face to face with him. In the end, I barely stood a chance, surviving only by a miraculous outcome."

"I see…" Claws nodded.

"Yet there was still an unanswered question. Information Vilevelious kept to himself regarding his involvement with Rare along with knowing something about my parents. Then, upon destruction, he last mentions of a brother who would avenge him."

"And then came the Baronia Empire." Katty blurted out.

Zolhalla pulls out a giant poster of the Baronia King alongside the royal house.

"But that's another story to tell."

The whole crowd was speechless since this served no relevance to them. Alistor sighed with slight embarrassment. They got back to the subject matter, now knowing what was at hand. A nurse came to the room to bring some great news. Elena was well and making a recovery leaving everyone assured.

"That's good, at least. What a relief."

They went to check up on her to find her resting at ease.

Meanwhile, from the midst of the Aggerona Empire, Moon watches them from his viewing crystal as the priestess recovers. His second-hand figure updates on Taishae's plan of approach.

"Show a little enthusiasm, won't ya? It's our first line deploying down to Mathias for our starting invasion."

"Ooo, I don't really care. It's obvious what will happen. My expectations aren't high anyway. The first monster always gets destroyed easily, so I'm not excited about that mwah."

"A little positive support could help, don't you think? Think of how this would reflect on our army's morale. If that's the case, is there something better you'd like to suggest before Taishae deploys the first line?"

"Shi shi, Well, if that's the case. I wouldn't mind making my grand royal appearance. Drop me in instead of sending the first line. Ooo, Elena's group will tremble in fear. There is no way they'll beat me."

"But you cannot leave at this moment." His second reminded.

"And why not?"

"Cause…You have paperwork remember? Plus, it would be too expensive anyway. We are on a tight budget."

He lays a stack of paper for him to go over and fill out.

"Since when do villains get the paperwork to do? Ooh, this is LAME, fine, let Taishae move with the first plan then. I'm gonna have a migraine at the end of the night."

His second-hand takes leave to send approval to Taishae. He is left with paperwork to do—plenty of it.

Back at the hospital, Alistor and the others hear the sound of motorbikes approaching from downtown. Claws decide to check outside with the others. They arrive at the scene with the sight of bystanders in panic. However, they find Tannen already prepared for action.

"Motorbikes? What kind of enemies are these?" Katty pointed.

New Aggerona grunts were seen on cycles. Finally, the field commander stepped forth.

"Noxer's the name! And these are the Glamours! Advanced troops compared to the Whoopers."

A platoon of Glamours skims through the town, causing havoc and mindless destruction, waving the banners of the Aggerona symbol in the air. Then, Alistor and the rest get into action. Claws and his units offer to assist them in a battle against their first foes.

"Let's go then," Alistor said.

The priestess' men charge in, taking on the fleet of Glamours from the front with Zolhalla. A few bikes circle Claws to mess with him. Katty and Alistor rush through the side of the fleet.

"Just like the old times," Katty smirked. "Even with cycles, these Glamours are nothing but all bark."

They both leap on one of the banners, causing one of the grunts to lose balance and crash. Other Glamours roll across the floor as the two break through the line.

Ah-ha!"

Tannen handles the other side with ease. With his scythe, he cuts through their cycles, sending them flying away. Zolhalla holds the front lines with Claws and the others forcing the fleet to break up.

"They're not as weak as I thought," Noxer mumbled.

Katty immediately gets ran over by the commanding monster, spinning his chain like a madman. The monster flocked his pompadour.

"I'm Taishae's left-hand man, now die!"

He starts wrapping Katty around with the chains circling from his bike. Finally, a massive ball was formed, encasing Katty from the chin up.

"Katty!"

Alistor attempts to rush to his side.

"No, you don't."

The monster fires a projectile at Alistor, slowing him down when more Glamours come in for distraction. Then, Noxer turned his attention back to the chained-up Katty struggling.

"Now, you'll be in for a shock!"

Voltage started forming on the chains, sending shock waves at him. Claws jump in to help Alistor handle the grunts on him while Zolhalla and Tannen kept the rest at bay. Katty continues to struggle as lightning surges through his body; Noxer continues laughing at him.

"…Gah!"

Katty writhed in pain as the monster closes in on him.

"Time to end this ha ha ha…."

Noxer approached over to Katty's body. No sign of life was in his eyes. His body stood cold like a dummy.

"What? Something's not right."

"You fell for my doppelganger trick," Katty said. "Had me going for quite a bit. Now for a taste of your own medicine."

The doppelganger transmogrifies into a simple leaf. Katty emerges from the other side as Noxer drops his guard, getting kicked into his own coil, shocking him.

"No! I got to make this stop…."

Alistor and Claws catch up to them. Noxer is holding his breath, recovering from the paralysis dealt by his own chains.

"Ready to finish this?" Alistor asked.

The party positioned themselves as the monster charge in. Katty is the first to strike Noxer, forcing him to take precautions. He dodges Alistor and Claws' attacks on the bike but soon gets knocked off when he tries bolting away. Claws destroy the motorcycle on impact, causing him to roll down on the floor. The rest of the fleet begins to retreat. As the rest of the priestess' men catch up, Noxer doesn't hesitate to step back. The monster spots a retreating Glamour coming his way. He knocks the soldier off the bike, taking it to escape.

"He's getting away." Claws pointed out.

They all followed him to fields, taking the battle outside of town. As the remaining enemies continue their retreat, a massive holographic face appears from the sky above. Lightning roars from above, making Noxer's fleet come to a stop.

"Master Taishae? We're getting clobbered."

"Enough!" Taishae shouted. "It seems you require a power-up."

Taishae fired a disk entering Noxer's body. He instantly recovers from all previous damage that was dealt, burning with flames of energy. Twenty more Glamour soldiers reinforce him as Taishae's face disappears.

"Ha ha ha, now I'm burning with power." Noxer kicked his bike away, ready to fight man to man.

He shoots out a blast of flames from his mouth, knocking them all back. Then, the grunts begin surrounding them from all sides.

"He's on fire! Literally." Zolhalla said.

The monster blasts out another round of flames at them. Tannen blocks the brunt of the attack.

"So, any plan of approach?" Tannen asked.

"We were hoping you come up with one…." Alistor thought.

"You're all soon becoming of age. You'll both have to fend for yourselves one day. Let this be part of your final training. Plan and adapt quickly to your environment. Each decision you make will have a consequence. Now one of ya makes a call!"

Alistor nor Katty couldn't decide what to do at the moment. Finally, Claws reacted quickly with an answer.

"Why don't we just kick the crap out of them?"

They all went with his plan.

"Fine! But the monster is mine." Katty said.

"Fine, let's just go with this," Tannen concluded.

Zolhalla and Claws leap to the side, taking on the grunts from the left while Alistor and Tannen went for the right. Katty has his eyes locked on Noxer. The monster spews out another blast of flames, Katty leaps in the air.

"You're starting to get on my nerves."

Katty knocks him down once again, avoiding more of his flames. Then, he shoots projectiles of golden energy at Noxer, damaging him massively.

"Grrh! Full power!"

Enraged, he starts charging up all the flames around with both hands in one concentrated attack.

"Now die!"

Katty dashes head-on against Noxer's ultimate attack, taking the form of a golden comet. But, unfortunately, he collides with the massive ball of flame swallowing him right in.

"Heh, It's all over."

Noxer was at ease, feeling it was already over.

"Wait, what?"

The golden comet emerged through his flames. Katty delivers a sharp blow to Noxer.

"Taishae…I failed you!"

Sparks burst out of Noxer. He collapses, exploding in debris. Tannen slaps away the remaining grunts with his scythe as they retreat.

Back somewhere in the dark depths of the ocean floors, Moon was busy finishing loads of paperwork at his hands. Then, finally, he fills out one final sheet. His second hand comes in to deliver the news but was hushed back.

"But I have news, sir!"

He tries to speak to him again, but Moon only lifts one finger as a sign to wait. He finishes filling the last sheet of paper. Before he even has a chance to speak, Moon takes the words right out of his mouth.

"Told you Noxer would fail. Well, that was a waste of time. What's on T.V. anyway?"

"We should find a way to deal with those responsible for your brother's demise."

"Alistor and his pesky party are not even worth my time. Taishae can handle those matters on his own. For now, I need a break from all this dreadful work, mmm."

He turns to his viewing crystal, glaring at Alistor and company creepily.

"Well, let's see what they got in the long run. I'll be watching from the shadows for now."

Returning from the battle, Alistor and company returned to the hospital to check up on the priestess. Elena was finally awake, feeling better already. Claws was at her side as Alistor and the others explained the situation at hand.

"So the Aggerona Empire is at war with us," Elena concluded.

Alistor couldn't get the thought of the holographic face he saw in the sky. He had to ask about it to clear his mind off.

"Taishae...That monster kept mentioning his name. Do you think he's Vilevelious' brother?"

"No doubt about it!" Katty agreed. "Has has to be the other brother."

"We should be getting back to Emerald. Sairori is expected to return from his mission by tonight. I can't keep those guys tending the place for more than a day. You remember what happened." Tannen reminded.

They laughed for the moment, recalling a memory of Maigashi and Auroa left at home for the day.

The memory they pictured was a scene from the past with them causing a disaster inside their kitchen when left unattended while the pot is catching on fire.

"Well, we're off…." Alistor waved to them.

"Will you guys be back? Tomorrow?" Claws wondered.

"For sure!"

They all agree to meet back, leaving Claws and Elena pleased. As night falls, they remain in recovery, hoping for the best. A royal messenger from Mathias suddenly appeared at their steps, minutes after Alistor and the rest had left. Elena began delivering urgent news about the enemy that attacked them.

"The Aggerona Empire… They're back."