Return to the Lair
Legend of the Crimson Lucario
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.
Author Notes:
-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.
xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.
'Poketalk'
Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine
Beta reader: Catsithx
xXx
Chapter 4: Return to the Lair
The first few hours of the day passed quietly without Hellstorm. Ruby spent most of that time thinking about what happened earlier that morning. For the most part, she spent her day looking through various books trying to find out as much as she could. She had gotten so involved in her reading again that she failed to notice that her breakfast was getting cold. It wasn't until lunch when Anna, her childhood friend, came in that she actually noticed. "Ruby, if Maria finds out you let your breakfast go cold just because you were reading again, she won't be happy." Anna quietly set down a tray of food next to the one that was already resting on the small desk.
"Breakfast? Who brought me breakfast?" Ruby asked looking up for the first time since she started reading. She wore a simple blue shirt that was made of the same material as her training gear and had a matching set of pants. A set of stray sandals kept her feet from touching the cold stone floor.
"I did." Anna sighed. "You really should learn to pay attention. One of these days, some guy will walk here in and take you for ransom, or worse some assassin will come here." Anna let out a quiet sigh at the end of her sentence.
"Sorry, I've just been thinking." Ruby closed her book. "I guess I'll give my now cold breakfast Kelley seeing how you've brought me lunch. She'll eat it no matter how cold it gets." Ruby laughed, as did Anna.
"Akara has been waiting outside. I'm sensing that she might want to talk with you, but just doesn't know how to approach you." Ann alerted Ruby.
"Send her in; I'll see what she wants." Ruby said as she slowly lifted the silver top of the tray that was left on her desk while Anna took the untouched breakfast out.
"Akara, if you want to talk with Ruby, then by all means please enter." Anna told Akara as she walked by.
Akara slowly got up the courage to go and talk with Ruby.
"Anna tells me that you wanted to talk with me. Is that true?" Ruby asked kindly setting her book down. She lifted the silver top off of the tray she had been given by Anna revealing a finely cut turkey sandwich with a light sauce and a bowl of soup, steam gently rose from the bowl. A small cup of tea accompanied the meal along with a small note, which Ruby quickly read.
"Sort of. I get the feeling that you and Hellstorm know each other well. From what I've seen, you're on equal terms with him." Akara stated. "I've never known a princess, demon or human, to be on equal terms with many people."
"If what your asking is do I have a relationship with Hellstorm, then the answer is no, at least not yet. I recruited for a mission yesterday. I had never met him before hand, I've only heard rumors." Ruby explained.
"Oh, that's good to hear." Akara smiled.
"That does not mean that I'm not going to try and get to know him." Ruby added. "I have grown to love the legend the people call Hellstorm, but now I wish to see if he is equally worthy of my love just as the figure of the legend is."
"Then I guess I have some competition." Akara stated as she took a seat. "So, how are we going to go about choosing who gets Hellstorm? He would make the perfect father."
"Do anything you wish other then use your powers. No magic, no demon arts. Hellstorm has informed me of the fact that you are a Lamia and I do not intend to harm you if you behave yourself." Ruby kindly explained.
"Hellstorm told you that and your okay with me being what I am?" Akara asked confused.
"I have more important things to worry about then a single demon trying to win the heart of another. Besides, it will take a lot of time for him to even think about love after what he went through." Ruby picked up her knife and cut the sandwich she had in two. "Would you like to try some? My cook, Maria thinks she may have found a fancy new sauce."
"You are a princess and yet you eat like commoners, a sandwich and soup." Akara was surprised. "In the demon world, royalty only eat the best of the best food, not such things as this." Akara was slightly confused at how different things were between her world and the human one with which she had only spent a few years on.
"I eat almost everything my cook serves. Every time she makes a new dish, I am willing to try it. And that is just what this sandwich has on it, one of her new recipes." Ruby slowly raised the sandwich half to her mouth and gently bit down. The meat was very tender and did not take long to chew. It was well cooked; seemingly falling apart before she could even chew and the light sauce was amazing. It added sweetness to the meat while also bringing out the best of the meat. It also gave the sandwich a slightly spicy taste. "This is nice. I do like the selection of spices she used. You should really try it." Ruby said before taking another bite.
"Very well, I shall." Akara took the second half of the sandwich that Ruby had offered her. Akara however was not a fan of spicy things, but she still had to complement the sweet taste it had. "Now you mention earlier that you know something about Hellstorm's past. Will you tell me what you know?" Akara asked.
Ruby told Akara most of what she had seen in the bathing area earlier that morning leaving out a few key facts like Arceus.
"So, that is why he trust's me enough to let me travel with him." Akara had a reasonable explanation for Hellstorm's of demons now. "This could play to my advantage." Akara looked up suddenly as though she had heard something.
"What is it?" Ruby asked upon seeing Akara suddenly start looking around.
"I heard something. It sounded like blast of air, but not quite a natural blast. It had a slight magical ring to it." Akara said.
"Magical ring to it?" Ruby was confused, how one could hear magic itself.
"A few demons can hear magic such as Lamias, but there are a few born every thousand years that can even see magic in its pure form. While I can't see it, I certainly can hear it. It sounded like it came for Hellstorm's room." Akara said as she walked toward the door.
"And how would you know where his room is. I don't recall ever giving you a tour." Ruby covered up her soup as she followed Akara down the hall. "Did one of my servants show you around?"
"Last night, when I went to sleep, I used a demon art call Shadow Walk. It lets me walk around an area with out a body. I can't go very far and I can't interact with the real world or pass through objects, but I still managed to get a good look around. I must say, you do have some fine taste in wines and art." Akara completed Ruby as they walked along.
"Thank you, but I would prefer if you didn't use your demon arts while you were here." Ruby explained as they walked down the hall to Hellstorm's room.
"There's that sound again. It's really close by." Akara warned Ruby.
Ruby opened the door and saw a man standing over Hellstorm with a knife in his hand. The man was dressed in all black clothing, his face covered by a black mask. With a quick flick of her wrist, a knife flew out of Ruby's sleeve and into her waiting hand. "That's a risky move, attacking a target in broad daylight." Ruby threw the knife before she flicked her wrist again resulting in a second knife shooting from her sleeve and into her hand.
The knife passed threw the assailant like they had never been there. A dark mist dripped down from where he was hit showing that he was not entirely solid.
"I am the Hunter of the Winds. Such simple tricks won't work on me." The man said. Akara quickly chanted a spell as the man threw the knife over his head getting ready to strike. Ruby jumped toward him only to fly threw him much like her knife had and landed on Hellstorm. The blade the assassin had flashed quickly as it went from a simple single edge curved knife to a thin, long dagger that would easily pierce Ruby's body to get to Hellstorm's. Hellstorm opened his eyes as Ruby landed on him; the first thing he saw was the knife. He rolled over flipping on top of Ruby as the knife came down. The knife dug into Hellstorm's shoulder.
Once again a bright green light engulfed Hellstorm, the light spread over to Ruby as the two suddenly vanished along with the knife just in time for Akara to finish chanting her spell. The small blue orb of ice passed cleanly through the man before freezing most of the wall behind the man.
xXx
Lair of the Riftwalker...
A strong wind blew in the desert that Ruby and Hellstorm landed in. Blood dripped from the wound on Hellstorm's shoulder as he looked around. Although, he had no pants, he did not seem to care. Ruby could not believe her eyes. They were just in her manor and now they were in some wasteland with nothing around. The heat quickly got her to start sweating.
"These winds need to stop." Hellstorm shouted as he raised his hand to the winds covering his eyes.
"I don't think the wind will listen to you." Ruby said as a large amount of sand still kept flying about. The sounds of the wind died as the sand quickly made its way to the ground. Hellstorm fell down on to one of his knees.
"I think the knife severed one of my major arteries." Hellstorm looked at the amount of blood flowing form his arm.
"Arteries?" It took a few seconds for Ruby to recall what the word meant. "Oh, yea, arteries." Ruby remembered her teaching as a princess. She was gifted with a few powerful healing magics and her parents, the king and queen had hired the best doctors and mages to teach her how to master these healing arts to best degree that she could. "Any idea where we are?" Ruby asked ripping off a piece of her dress to try and bandaged the wound. Ruby then placed her hands on Hellstorm's wounded shoulder as a light blue mist covered Hellstorm's arm. The entire arm went numb as the mist slowly worked its way over the arm and into the wound.
"Home." Hellstorm replied as he looked around. "This place is my copy of what my home looks like."
"This desert, but I don't see anything." Ruby said as she removed her arms from Hellstorm's shoulder. Hellstorm just pointed off into the distance.
"The Plateau is that way." Hellstorm slowly got, the heat was nothing to him, but it could easily kill Ruby if she stayed out in the heat too long.
"Is this the Lair of the Riftwalker?" Ruby asked wiping a large sum of sweat off her head.
"Most likely." Hellstorm said as he started to walk to where he had thrown the knife. Hellstorm felt strangely weak as he walked. His vision was just slightly blurry. He lifted up the blade. "I think this blade was poisoned." Hellstorm said handed the blade to Ruby. Ruby took the blade as she began to wipe some more sweat from her head. Hellstorm saw this and closed his eyes. "I wish it to be night with a moon in the sky." Hellstorm whispered under his breath.
The sun was replaced by a full moon in less then a second. The sudden drop in the temperature caught both of them off guard even though Hellstorm was expecting. He did however realize just how fast this would come to pass.
Hellstorm walked in the direction he had pointed. It only took less then an hour of walking, but they finally ended up at the base of the plateau. Its sand covered sides helped it to blend in perfectly with the rest of the desert from afar, but it was easy to identify up close. Hellstorm led Ruby up the winding path that lead up the plateau. There were no tents or anything really on the plateau surface, just an empty terrace. Hellstorm managed to make it to the top before he collapsed. His vision was slightly blurred, but he could still make out the caves.
The poison in him was working fast. "Hellstorm, what's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"I have a strong weakness to poisons. If I don't find a cure soon, I could die." Hellstorm replied. Ruby still had the poisoned knife and once again took a look at it trying to figure out kind of poison had infected Hellstorm. Hellstorm looked back up and tried to stand only to fail instead collapsing to the ground.
"Now we can't have this. A dead Riftwalker is a worthless Riftwalker. " A voice rang out from all directions.
"Who's there?" Ruby called out trying to find the source of this strange new voice. If this was the Lair of the Riftwalker, then only those invited by the Riftwalker themselves should be here.
"Lucky for you that you made it here." The voice continued. "Unfortunately, even the gods can't do too much to help you in the real world, but here, we can do quite a lot."
"Who are you?" Hellstorm asked weakly trying to get up. He made it to a sitting position using his arms to keep himself up when a figure grew out of the sand.
"I am God of Space, my name is Palkia. I just choose to use this human body for now, as I truly do not like the desert. I dislike the heat of such places." A tall human stood before Ruby and Hellstorm, his skin was slightly pink and he had a pair of very large pink stones growing out of his shoulders. He wore a large white shirt and matching pants, but the sands seemed to pass through his.
"I meant to come and see you last time you were here, but I was preoccupied at the time. Anyway, I have two things for you." A large stone slab materialized out of the sands around him and landed gently in his hands. The nineteen open slots in the stone were easy to see. The second was a small vile of red liquid. "I'm sure you recognize this stone as Ruby has showed you a picture of it before. And this is a very powerful cure to all poisons. Drink this and all poisons will be cleared out of your body." The man handed the vial to Hellstorm, but before he could even open it, the vial shattered, the red liquid fell to ground quickly being absorbed by the sands.
"You can't give him that." A second voice rang out, this one belonging to a female. "You forget about his adaptations, he is from a desert planet and has a higher temperature then most. That potion's secondary side effect is a decrease in body heat." A woman stepped forth from the cave system. "If you going to give him anything, give him this."
The young lady looked to be in her early thirties at the most. Her soft, sweet blue eyes and voice gave her the feel of angle to a degree. She had long hair a light blue in color that was braided, the end of it coming down past her waist. She wore a slightly demonic dress, while white in color, there was a dark spider wed like design woven into it. She stood up about Ruby's height, smiling as she looked down at Hellstorm.
"So, this is my next master." She held out her arm as a large sum of sand from a bowl in front of her. Her eyes went red as the sand heated up, giving off a soft white glow. When the glow had faded away, a glass bowl was left behind. The lady lifted her left wrist above the bowl and using a nail on her other arm, she cut away a small piece of skin and let some of her blue blood collect in the bowl. The wound, despite being rather shallow, let out a fair amount of blood before it seemed to heal over leaving no signs of the wound behind.
"I've never known you to give out such a gift so willing before." Palkia said clearly amazed by what the woman was doing.
"He has much to live for and I think he's done enough to earn my respect. I've looked into his past, he has earned this for now, but he'll have to earn it again now that I have a chance to get to know him." The woman picked the glass bowl up out of the air and took a seat next to Hellstorm. "Please drink this. My blood will easily clear your body of that poison."
"I'm no vampire." Hellstorm objected.
"Please, drink. It's my gift to you. Besides, it's the only thing right now that can clear you of that poison. I haven't had a chance to make any potions as of yet." The woman once again presented her blood to him. Hellstorm thought about it and realized that right now, his choices were limited. He had to do something or he could never save his pack or Sora from the demons of his time. Although he did not fear death, he still had a job that needed to be done. He reluctantly took the bowl from the woman and sipped the blue blood that seemed to still be a perfect liquid even though a several seconds had passed.
Hellstorm felt his strength return as he slowly sipped the blood. He felt a slight sadness build up in heart. He a loss in his heart, he would sometimes find himself doing this exact action for Sora. He was more then kind enough to give Sora a small sum of his blood when she needed it. Even though he would offer her his blood, she was always very cautious never to take more than a mouthful at most, but most of the time, it was just a few drops here and there when no other blood was available. Although she did need blood, she rarely took it from the pack or even Hellstorm who willing gave her small amounts of his blood. She would often join the hunting raids when the desert worms were in the area. She would store the blood from the worm and drink that to keep herself alive. One thought led to another as he remembered the day that she had saved him from one of the great worms.
A sudden explosion of sand in the distance caught everyone's attention. Hellstorm had failed to realize it, but he subconsciously summoned forth the worm from his memories. The large scaled worm flew up into the air coming back down forming a wide arc. Even thought it was still far off, everyone could still see that it was huge. It took several minutes before it was completely back under ground. If not for the occasional fin that had passed by on the worm, it would have looked like the worm was just standing still in that one position. After it surfaced the one time, it seemed to fade away. It did not resurface and was quickly forgotten.
The woman went to say something, but Palkia hand over her mouth. "Don't even go there. Those memories are what keep him going. I hate to say it, but they are his only reason for living right. He would willing accept death and does not fear it, but still, he continues to move forward."
The woman removed Palkia's hand. "I still say..." Once again she found Palkia's hand over her mouth.
"Save those words for when he is not around." Palkia warned his voice quite firm.
"So, now that I can think clearly again, who are you?" Hellstorm asked the woman now that he was finally able to stand. He was still a bit dizzy, but that feeling was fading fast. He picked up the stone slab he was given by Palkia and the three orbs in Hellstorm's possession appeared around his waste. There were the wind and water orbs plus a solid silver orb. It was of flawless design and looked lit it would weigh a lot, but to Hellstorm, it was weightless.
"I am Solana, Watcher of the Lair. My purpose is to help you and care for this place and any others that you have here. When I have no master, I seal myself away waiting for my next master to arrive." Solana bowed her head as she introduced herself. "I would have greeted you last time, but it's been over a millennium since I was last awake. It took me a while to gather my thoughts and remember what was going on. Normally, I'll sleep for just a hundred years before the next one of you show up." Solana explained.
Hellstorm looked at the stone slab he had wondering if there was a specific order or place for each of the elemental orbs. "If you're here to help me Solana, then tell me, how this stone works." Hellstorm asked.
"The middle ring is for the 6 primary elements that make up this world, earth, fire, wind, water, light, and darkness. The outer ring is for the other twelve elements. As for the one in the middle, that one you must fill on your own. It is one of many trails you will have to face to become a true Crimson Warrior."
"In that case, Water goes here, wind goes here, and steel goes here." Hellstorm placed his three into the stone slab. He placed the water and wind orbs next to each other in the center ring the steel ring the opposite side of the outer ring.
"Shouldn't we be finding a way out of here soon? I think we left Akara alone with that assassin." Ruby spoke up.
"Time does not pass here. I was here for a few hours last time and time had barely moved a minute in the real world." Hellstorm explained. "Besides, I have questions for the two of you." Hellstorm held the stone slab while looking at Solana and Palkia. A pillar slowly grew up at Hellstorm's feet; the top of it was perfectly fitted for the stone slab.
"I'm sorry; I was just told by Arceus that I am needed. If you have any questions about me, Solana should be able to answer them." Palkia seemed to turn to sand and fell the ground, the grains scattering left and right.
"Please forgive Palkia; he was never really good with manners." Solana said as she stepped forward. Three small chunks of earth rose out of the ground moving about like a liquid, each one forming a chair. "I guess I should properly introduce myself. As I said, I am Solana, Watcher of the Lair. In terms of power here, I share all of your powers of command here like controlling the land around us." Solana took a seat motioning for Ruby and Hellstorm to do the same.
Hellstorm remained standing, but Ruby did take a seat. "My job here is to help make sure that you secede in your mission and to guide you through time to the next point that needs saving. I'm also in charge of making sure that you pass the trials that are to come." Solana continued.
Solana's calm look suddenly left her face as a serious one replaced it. The very sky looked like it was made of glass that was quickly being shattered. "Some one's trying to break you out of here. I would return to whence you came at once." Solana said, "This place is still not the perfect defense, a powerful summons can sometimes fracture the barrier here and then the storm of time can ravage this land." Solana clapped her hands as the Gates of Time just appeared into the area like they had always been there. "Return them from whence they came." The vines moved aside granting entry to the swirling vortex that would let them travel back to the manor.
"How do I get back here?" Hellstorm asked.
"There are a few ways. The first way is like you have been getting here so far, a self defense mechanism that automatically triggered the last two times you were in danger of dying, the other way is by a spell. However, it's up to you to find the spell. I can tell you that it is easy to find if you look." Solana vanished in a flash as she went to deal with the fracturing shield that kept this place outside time.
Hellstorm and Ruby walked through the Vortex. Time swirled them as they returned to the manor.
xXx
The Manor...
Akara quickly moved to avoid another knife. The assassin seemed to have an endless number of them and he threw them with expert precision, each knife draining a minor amount of her energy. Akara already had several minor cuts on her body. She had tried several times counter attack, but to no avail. Either her attacks would pass through him without doing anything or he would avoid them by jumping around the room. Each time a knife hit the wall, it would seem to melt away in a plume of black smoke that always returned to the assassin. Akara fell over as she tripped over a chunk of ice that had formed from one of her failed attacks. The assassin took one last knife and threw it at Akara as she stood back up. She had been fighting alone for the last minute and between the number of knives that had hit her and the amount of energy she used for attacks; she was suddenly forced back into her natural body, her tail extending outwards the full twenty feet and weaving around anything in its path. The knife flew fast heading straight for her head. She feared the worse.
A sudden flash of green broke the air between Akara and the knife. Hellstorm dropped out of the sudden flash of light, the dagger striking the jewel on his forward. The knife bounce up and Hellstorm grabbed the weapon before anyone could even register him being there. With one quick spin of his body, Hellstorm released the knife with much greater force then the assassin had been using. Instead of the usual black mist had seen when a physical attack him the assassin, a red blood like mist erupted from the point where the knife had struck. The assassin fell to his knees before he began to sink into the floor. His body turned to a black mist with traces of red in it as it suddenly jumped back the mist flowing through the cracks of the imperfect seal around the window. The knife hit the far wall hard imbedding itself several inches into the wall.
Victor charged in without his cloak, his muscular stood out as he had the body of some sort of muscle man. Large arms, well built chest, there was no doubt he could lift his own weight many times over. "What happened here?" He demanded before noticing Akara. If not for the fact that she was in her demon form, he wouldn't have cared for her, but seeing a demon got his attention real fast. "Lady Ruby, I'll save you." Victor charged Akara, but Hellstorm intercepted him.
"She's with me." Hellstorm stood once again between Akara and harm for a second time in a matter of in minutes.
"Victor, calm yourself. I know what she is and I understand that she is Hellstorm's traveling companion. You will still treat her as a guest. Understand?" Rudy gave Victor her orders and Victor bowed.
A scroll dropped from Victor's pocket. It unrolled itself at Hellstorm's feet. The large banners that lined both sides of the scroll indicated that this scroll was marking an upcoming tournament. "What's this?" Hellstorm held up the scroll.
"That is an invitation for Lady Ruby. She has been invited to the next Royal Tournament. Her parents are looking for some new knights. Even though only one can win the bags of gold that they have offered as a prize, they will accept at least four good people to become knights. However, if they find more then four good people, they may increase that number. They are also looking for a new Pokemon to become guards and watchmen of the royal family." Victor explained, his eyes never leaving Akara.
"Is this an open invitation or invite only to enter." Hellstorm asked.
"For the human side, only those with an invite or referral from one of the Royal Families may enter. As for the beast side though, any trainer may enter their beast. The trainer will be moved to the castle for training if their Pokemon manage to make the cut." Victor contented.
"This could prove to my advantage. But I'll need someone to enter me into the tournament." Hellstorm lowered his head to think.
"I could get you in, but why would you want to enter?" Ruby asked.
"If I were to enter, it would give me access to the castle. I would then be able to search the grounds freely. When I first showed up here, I thought I sensed an orb around the castle." Hellstorm explained. "Also, it would be a good cover for my staying here and I would not have to waste magic on keeping a human body."
"Very well, then I shall enter you into the tournament. Let's hope that you make it in." Ruby walked over to Hellstorm.
"With my skills, I doubt I can lose." Hellstorm pointed out.
"Not all of the Pokemon who have entered in the past were by any means normal. People have been known to raise... unusual Pokemon and bring them in." Ruby was what word would best be suited for her description.
"Unusual? What does that mean?" Hellstorm asked.
"I'm not sure how to describe it. You'll have to see it for yourself if Lord Nihlia brings her breeder with her this year." Ruby said.
"Your father always sends an invitation out to her and she always accepts." Victor said.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.
Author Notes:
-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.
xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.
'Poketalk'
Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine
Beta reader: Catsithx
xXx
Chapter 4: Return to the Lair
The first few hours of the day passed quietly without Hellstorm. Ruby spent most of that time thinking about what happened earlier that morning. For the most part, she spent her day looking through various books trying to find out as much as she could. She had gotten so involved in her reading again that she failed to notice that her breakfast was getting cold. It wasn't until lunch when Anna, her childhood friend, came in that she actually noticed. "Ruby, if Maria finds out you let your breakfast go cold just because you were reading again, she won't be happy." Anna quietly set down a tray of food next to the one that was already resting on the small desk.
"Breakfast? Who brought me breakfast?" Ruby asked looking up for the first time since she started reading. She wore a simple blue shirt that was made of the same material as her training gear and had a matching set of pants. A set of stray sandals kept her feet from touching the cold stone floor.
"I did." Anna sighed. "You really should learn to pay attention. One of these days, some guy will walk here in and take you for ransom, or worse some assassin will come here." Anna let out a quiet sigh at the end of her sentence.
"Sorry, I've just been thinking." Ruby closed her book. "I guess I'll give my now cold breakfast Kelley seeing how you've brought me lunch. She'll eat it no matter how cold it gets." Ruby laughed, as did Anna.
"Akara has been waiting outside. I'm sensing that she might want to talk with you, but just doesn't know how to approach you." Ann alerted Ruby.
"Send her in; I'll see what she wants." Ruby said as she slowly lifted the silver top of the tray that was left on her desk while Anna took the untouched breakfast out.
"Akara, if you want to talk with Ruby, then by all means please enter." Anna told Akara as she walked by.
Akara slowly got up the courage to go and talk with Ruby.
"Anna tells me that you wanted to talk with me. Is that true?" Ruby asked kindly setting her book down. She lifted the silver top off of the tray she had been given by Anna revealing a finely cut turkey sandwich with a light sauce and a bowl of soup, steam gently rose from the bowl. A small cup of tea accompanied the meal along with a small note, which Ruby quickly read.
"Sort of. I get the feeling that you and Hellstorm know each other well. From what I've seen, you're on equal terms with him." Akara stated. "I've never known a princess, demon or human, to be on equal terms with many people."
"If what your asking is do I have a relationship with Hellstorm, then the answer is no, at least not yet. I recruited for a mission yesterday. I had never met him before hand, I've only heard rumors." Ruby explained.
"Oh, that's good to hear." Akara smiled.
"That does not mean that I'm not going to try and get to know him." Ruby added. "I have grown to love the legend the people call Hellstorm, but now I wish to see if he is equally worthy of my love just as the figure of the legend is."
"Then I guess I have some competition." Akara stated as she took a seat. "So, how are we going to go about choosing who gets Hellstorm? He would make the perfect father."
"Do anything you wish other then use your powers. No magic, no demon arts. Hellstorm has informed me of the fact that you are a Lamia and I do not intend to harm you if you behave yourself." Ruby kindly explained.
"Hellstorm told you that and your okay with me being what I am?" Akara asked confused.
"I have more important things to worry about then a single demon trying to win the heart of another. Besides, it will take a lot of time for him to even think about love after what he went through." Ruby picked up her knife and cut the sandwich she had in two. "Would you like to try some? My cook, Maria thinks she may have found a fancy new sauce."
"You are a princess and yet you eat like commoners, a sandwich and soup." Akara was surprised. "In the demon world, royalty only eat the best of the best food, not such things as this." Akara was slightly confused at how different things were between her world and the human one with which she had only spent a few years on.
"I eat almost everything my cook serves. Every time she makes a new dish, I am willing to try it. And that is just what this sandwich has on it, one of her new recipes." Ruby slowly raised the sandwich half to her mouth and gently bit down. The meat was very tender and did not take long to chew. It was well cooked; seemingly falling apart before she could even chew and the light sauce was amazing. It added sweetness to the meat while also bringing out the best of the meat. It also gave the sandwich a slightly spicy taste. "This is nice. I do like the selection of spices she used. You should really try it." Ruby said before taking another bite.
"Very well, I shall." Akara took the second half of the sandwich that Ruby had offered her. Akara however was not a fan of spicy things, but she still had to complement the sweet taste it had. "Now you mention earlier that you know something about Hellstorm's past. Will you tell me what you know?" Akara asked.
Ruby told Akara most of what she had seen in the bathing area earlier that morning leaving out a few key facts like Arceus.
"So, that is why he trust's me enough to let me travel with him." Akara had a reasonable explanation for Hellstorm's of demons now. "This could play to my advantage." Akara looked up suddenly as though she had heard something.
"What is it?" Ruby asked upon seeing Akara suddenly start looking around.
"I heard something. It sounded like blast of air, but not quite a natural blast. It had a slight magical ring to it." Akara said.
"Magical ring to it?" Ruby was confused, how one could hear magic itself.
"A few demons can hear magic such as Lamias, but there are a few born every thousand years that can even see magic in its pure form. While I can't see it, I certainly can hear it. It sounded like it came for Hellstorm's room." Akara said as she walked toward the door.
"And how would you know where his room is. I don't recall ever giving you a tour." Ruby covered up her soup as she followed Akara down the hall. "Did one of my servants show you around?"
"Last night, when I went to sleep, I used a demon art call Shadow Walk. It lets me walk around an area with out a body. I can't go very far and I can't interact with the real world or pass through objects, but I still managed to get a good look around. I must say, you do have some fine taste in wines and art." Akara completed Ruby as they walked along.
"Thank you, but I would prefer if you didn't use your demon arts while you were here." Ruby explained as they walked down the hall to Hellstorm's room.
"There's that sound again. It's really close by." Akara warned Ruby.
Ruby opened the door and saw a man standing over Hellstorm with a knife in his hand. The man was dressed in all black clothing, his face covered by a black mask. With a quick flick of her wrist, a knife flew out of Ruby's sleeve and into her waiting hand. "That's a risky move, attacking a target in broad daylight." Ruby threw the knife before she flicked her wrist again resulting in a second knife shooting from her sleeve and into her hand.
The knife passed threw the assailant like they had never been there. A dark mist dripped down from where he was hit showing that he was not entirely solid.
"I am the Hunter of the Winds. Such simple tricks won't work on me." The man said. Akara quickly chanted a spell as the man threw the knife over his head getting ready to strike. Ruby jumped toward him only to fly threw him much like her knife had and landed on Hellstorm. The blade the assassin had flashed quickly as it went from a simple single edge curved knife to a thin, long dagger that would easily pierce Ruby's body to get to Hellstorm's. Hellstorm opened his eyes as Ruby landed on him; the first thing he saw was the knife. He rolled over flipping on top of Ruby as the knife came down. The knife dug into Hellstorm's shoulder.
Once again a bright green light engulfed Hellstorm, the light spread over to Ruby as the two suddenly vanished along with the knife just in time for Akara to finish chanting her spell. The small blue orb of ice passed cleanly through the man before freezing most of the wall behind the man.
xXx
Lair of the Riftwalker...
A strong wind blew in the desert that Ruby and Hellstorm landed in. Blood dripped from the wound on Hellstorm's shoulder as he looked around. Although, he had no pants, he did not seem to care. Ruby could not believe her eyes. They were just in her manor and now they were in some wasteland with nothing around. The heat quickly got her to start sweating.
"These winds need to stop." Hellstorm shouted as he raised his hand to the winds covering his eyes.
"I don't think the wind will listen to you." Ruby said as a large amount of sand still kept flying about. The sounds of the wind died as the sand quickly made its way to the ground. Hellstorm fell down on to one of his knees.
"I think the knife severed one of my major arteries." Hellstorm looked at the amount of blood flowing form his arm.
"Arteries?" It took a few seconds for Ruby to recall what the word meant. "Oh, yea, arteries." Ruby remembered her teaching as a princess. She was gifted with a few powerful healing magics and her parents, the king and queen had hired the best doctors and mages to teach her how to master these healing arts to best degree that she could. "Any idea where we are?" Ruby asked ripping off a piece of her dress to try and bandaged the wound. Ruby then placed her hands on Hellstorm's wounded shoulder as a light blue mist covered Hellstorm's arm. The entire arm went numb as the mist slowly worked its way over the arm and into the wound.
"Home." Hellstorm replied as he looked around. "This place is my copy of what my home looks like."
"This desert, but I don't see anything." Ruby said as she removed her arms from Hellstorm's shoulder. Hellstorm just pointed off into the distance.
"The Plateau is that way." Hellstorm slowly got, the heat was nothing to him, but it could easily kill Ruby if she stayed out in the heat too long.
"Is this the Lair of the Riftwalker?" Ruby asked wiping a large sum of sweat off her head.
"Most likely." Hellstorm said as he started to walk to where he had thrown the knife. Hellstorm felt strangely weak as he walked. His vision was just slightly blurry. He lifted up the blade. "I think this blade was poisoned." Hellstorm said handed the blade to Ruby. Ruby took the blade as she began to wipe some more sweat from her head. Hellstorm saw this and closed his eyes. "I wish it to be night with a moon in the sky." Hellstorm whispered under his breath.
The sun was replaced by a full moon in less then a second. The sudden drop in the temperature caught both of them off guard even though Hellstorm was expecting. He did however realize just how fast this would come to pass.
Hellstorm walked in the direction he had pointed. It only took less then an hour of walking, but they finally ended up at the base of the plateau. Its sand covered sides helped it to blend in perfectly with the rest of the desert from afar, but it was easy to identify up close. Hellstorm led Ruby up the winding path that lead up the plateau. There were no tents or anything really on the plateau surface, just an empty terrace. Hellstorm managed to make it to the top before he collapsed. His vision was slightly blurred, but he could still make out the caves.
The poison in him was working fast. "Hellstorm, what's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"I have a strong weakness to poisons. If I don't find a cure soon, I could die." Hellstorm replied. Ruby still had the poisoned knife and once again took a look at it trying to figure out kind of poison had infected Hellstorm. Hellstorm looked back up and tried to stand only to fail instead collapsing to the ground.
"Now we can't have this. A dead Riftwalker is a worthless Riftwalker. " A voice rang out from all directions.
"Who's there?" Ruby called out trying to find the source of this strange new voice. If this was the Lair of the Riftwalker, then only those invited by the Riftwalker themselves should be here.
"Lucky for you that you made it here." The voice continued. "Unfortunately, even the gods can't do too much to help you in the real world, but here, we can do quite a lot."
"Who are you?" Hellstorm asked weakly trying to get up. He made it to a sitting position using his arms to keep himself up when a figure grew out of the sand.
"I am God of Space, my name is Palkia. I just choose to use this human body for now, as I truly do not like the desert. I dislike the heat of such places." A tall human stood before Ruby and Hellstorm, his skin was slightly pink and he had a pair of very large pink stones growing out of his shoulders. He wore a large white shirt and matching pants, but the sands seemed to pass through his.
"I meant to come and see you last time you were here, but I was preoccupied at the time. Anyway, I have two things for you." A large stone slab materialized out of the sands around him and landed gently in his hands. The nineteen open slots in the stone were easy to see. The second was a small vile of red liquid. "I'm sure you recognize this stone as Ruby has showed you a picture of it before. And this is a very powerful cure to all poisons. Drink this and all poisons will be cleared out of your body." The man handed the vial to Hellstorm, but before he could even open it, the vial shattered, the red liquid fell to ground quickly being absorbed by the sands.
"You can't give him that." A second voice rang out, this one belonging to a female. "You forget about his adaptations, he is from a desert planet and has a higher temperature then most. That potion's secondary side effect is a decrease in body heat." A woman stepped forth from the cave system. "If you going to give him anything, give him this."
The young lady looked to be in her early thirties at the most. Her soft, sweet blue eyes and voice gave her the feel of angle to a degree. She had long hair a light blue in color that was braided, the end of it coming down past her waist. She wore a slightly demonic dress, while white in color, there was a dark spider wed like design woven into it. She stood up about Ruby's height, smiling as she looked down at Hellstorm.
"So, this is my next master." She held out her arm as a large sum of sand from a bowl in front of her. Her eyes went red as the sand heated up, giving off a soft white glow. When the glow had faded away, a glass bowl was left behind. The lady lifted her left wrist above the bowl and using a nail on her other arm, she cut away a small piece of skin and let some of her blue blood collect in the bowl. The wound, despite being rather shallow, let out a fair amount of blood before it seemed to heal over leaving no signs of the wound behind.
"I've never known you to give out such a gift so willing before." Palkia said clearly amazed by what the woman was doing.
"He has much to live for and I think he's done enough to earn my respect. I've looked into his past, he has earned this for now, but he'll have to earn it again now that I have a chance to get to know him." The woman picked the glass bowl up out of the air and took a seat next to Hellstorm. "Please drink this. My blood will easily clear your body of that poison."
"I'm no vampire." Hellstorm objected.
"Please, drink. It's my gift to you. Besides, it's the only thing right now that can clear you of that poison. I haven't had a chance to make any potions as of yet." The woman once again presented her blood to him. Hellstorm thought about it and realized that right now, his choices were limited. He had to do something or he could never save his pack or Sora from the demons of his time. Although he did not fear death, he still had a job that needed to be done. He reluctantly took the bowl from the woman and sipped the blue blood that seemed to still be a perfect liquid even though a several seconds had passed.
Hellstorm felt his strength return as he slowly sipped the blood. He felt a slight sadness build up in heart. He a loss in his heart, he would sometimes find himself doing this exact action for Sora. He was more then kind enough to give Sora a small sum of his blood when she needed it. Even though he would offer her his blood, she was always very cautious never to take more than a mouthful at most, but most of the time, it was just a few drops here and there when no other blood was available. Although she did need blood, she rarely took it from the pack or even Hellstorm who willing gave her small amounts of his blood. She would often join the hunting raids when the desert worms were in the area. She would store the blood from the worm and drink that to keep herself alive. One thought led to another as he remembered the day that she had saved him from one of the great worms.
A sudden explosion of sand in the distance caught everyone's attention. Hellstorm had failed to realize it, but he subconsciously summoned forth the worm from his memories. The large scaled worm flew up into the air coming back down forming a wide arc. Even thought it was still far off, everyone could still see that it was huge. It took several minutes before it was completely back under ground. If not for the occasional fin that had passed by on the worm, it would have looked like the worm was just standing still in that one position. After it surfaced the one time, it seemed to fade away. It did not resurface and was quickly forgotten.
The woman went to say something, but Palkia hand over her mouth. "Don't even go there. Those memories are what keep him going. I hate to say it, but they are his only reason for living right. He would willing accept death and does not fear it, but still, he continues to move forward."
The woman removed Palkia's hand. "I still say..." Once again she found Palkia's hand over her mouth.
"Save those words for when he is not around." Palkia warned his voice quite firm.
"So, now that I can think clearly again, who are you?" Hellstorm asked the woman now that he was finally able to stand. He was still a bit dizzy, but that feeling was fading fast. He picked up the stone slab he was given by Palkia and the three orbs in Hellstorm's possession appeared around his waste. There were the wind and water orbs plus a solid silver orb. It was of flawless design and looked lit it would weigh a lot, but to Hellstorm, it was weightless.
"I am Solana, Watcher of the Lair. My purpose is to help you and care for this place and any others that you have here. When I have no master, I seal myself away waiting for my next master to arrive." Solana bowed her head as she introduced herself. "I would have greeted you last time, but it's been over a millennium since I was last awake. It took me a while to gather my thoughts and remember what was going on. Normally, I'll sleep for just a hundred years before the next one of you show up." Solana explained.
Hellstorm looked at the stone slab he had wondering if there was a specific order or place for each of the elemental orbs. "If you're here to help me Solana, then tell me, how this stone works." Hellstorm asked.
"The middle ring is for the 6 primary elements that make up this world, earth, fire, wind, water, light, and darkness. The outer ring is for the other twelve elements. As for the one in the middle, that one you must fill on your own. It is one of many trails you will have to face to become a true Crimson Warrior."
"In that case, Water goes here, wind goes here, and steel goes here." Hellstorm placed his three into the stone slab. He placed the water and wind orbs next to each other in the center ring the steel ring the opposite side of the outer ring.
"Shouldn't we be finding a way out of here soon? I think we left Akara alone with that assassin." Ruby spoke up.
"Time does not pass here. I was here for a few hours last time and time had barely moved a minute in the real world." Hellstorm explained. "Besides, I have questions for the two of you." Hellstorm held the stone slab while looking at Solana and Palkia. A pillar slowly grew up at Hellstorm's feet; the top of it was perfectly fitted for the stone slab.
"I'm sorry; I was just told by Arceus that I am needed. If you have any questions about me, Solana should be able to answer them." Palkia seemed to turn to sand and fell the ground, the grains scattering left and right.
"Please forgive Palkia; he was never really good with manners." Solana said as she stepped forward. Three small chunks of earth rose out of the ground moving about like a liquid, each one forming a chair. "I guess I should properly introduce myself. As I said, I am Solana, Watcher of the Lair. In terms of power here, I share all of your powers of command here like controlling the land around us." Solana took a seat motioning for Ruby and Hellstorm to do the same.
Hellstorm remained standing, but Ruby did take a seat. "My job here is to help make sure that you secede in your mission and to guide you through time to the next point that needs saving. I'm also in charge of making sure that you pass the trials that are to come." Solana continued.
Solana's calm look suddenly left her face as a serious one replaced it. The very sky looked like it was made of glass that was quickly being shattered. "Some one's trying to break you out of here. I would return to whence you came at once." Solana said, "This place is still not the perfect defense, a powerful summons can sometimes fracture the barrier here and then the storm of time can ravage this land." Solana clapped her hands as the Gates of Time just appeared into the area like they had always been there. "Return them from whence they came." The vines moved aside granting entry to the swirling vortex that would let them travel back to the manor.
"How do I get back here?" Hellstorm asked.
"There are a few ways. The first way is like you have been getting here so far, a self defense mechanism that automatically triggered the last two times you were in danger of dying, the other way is by a spell. However, it's up to you to find the spell. I can tell you that it is easy to find if you look." Solana vanished in a flash as she went to deal with the fracturing shield that kept this place outside time.
Hellstorm and Ruby walked through the Vortex. Time swirled them as they returned to the manor.
xXx
The Manor...
Akara quickly moved to avoid another knife. The assassin seemed to have an endless number of them and he threw them with expert precision, each knife draining a minor amount of her energy. Akara already had several minor cuts on her body. She had tried several times counter attack, but to no avail. Either her attacks would pass through him without doing anything or he would avoid them by jumping around the room. Each time a knife hit the wall, it would seem to melt away in a plume of black smoke that always returned to the assassin. Akara fell over as she tripped over a chunk of ice that had formed from one of her failed attacks. The assassin took one last knife and threw it at Akara as she stood back up. She had been fighting alone for the last minute and between the number of knives that had hit her and the amount of energy she used for attacks; she was suddenly forced back into her natural body, her tail extending outwards the full twenty feet and weaving around anything in its path. The knife flew fast heading straight for her head. She feared the worse.
A sudden flash of green broke the air between Akara and the knife. Hellstorm dropped out of the sudden flash of light, the dagger striking the jewel on his forward. The knife bounce up and Hellstorm grabbed the weapon before anyone could even register him being there. With one quick spin of his body, Hellstorm released the knife with much greater force then the assassin had been using. Instead of the usual black mist had seen when a physical attack him the assassin, a red blood like mist erupted from the point where the knife had struck. The assassin fell to his knees before he began to sink into the floor. His body turned to a black mist with traces of red in it as it suddenly jumped back the mist flowing through the cracks of the imperfect seal around the window. The knife hit the far wall hard imbedding itself several inches into the wall.
Victor charged in without his cloak, his muscular stood out as he had the body of some sort of muscle man. Large arms, well built chest, there was no doubt he could lift his own weight many times over. "What happened here?" He demanded before noticing Akara. If not for the fact that she was in her demon form, he wouldn't have cared for her, but seeing a demon got his attention real fast. "Lady Ruby, I'll save you." Victor charged Akara, but Hellstorm intercepted him.
"She's with me." Hellstorm stood once again between Akara and harm for a second time in a matter of in minutes.
"Victor, calm yourself. I know what she is and I understand that she is Hellstorm's traveling companion. You will still treat her as a guest. Understand?" Rudy gave Victor her orders and Victor bowed.
A scroll dropped from Victor's pocket. It unrolled itself at Hellstorm's feet. The large banners that lined both sides of the scroll indicated that this scroll was marking an upcoming tournament. "What's this?" Hellstorm held up the scroll.
"That is an invitation for Lady Ruby. She has been invited to the next Royal Tournament. Her parents are looking for some new knights. Even though only one can win the bags of gold that they have offered as a prize, they will accept at least four good people to become knights. However, if they find more then four good people, they may increase that number. They are also looking for a new Pokemon to become guards and watchmen of the royal family." Victor explained, his eyes never leaving Akara.
"Is this an open invitation or invite only to enter." Hellstorm asked.
"For the human side, only those with an invite or referral from one of the Royal Families may enter. As for the beast side though, any trainer may enter their beast. The trainer will be moved to the castle for training if their Pokemon manage to make the cut." Victor contented.
"This could prove to my advantage. But I'll need someone to enter me into the tournament." Hellstorm lowered his head to think.
"I could get you in, but why would you want to enter?" Ruby asked.
"If I were to enter, it would give me access to the castle. I would then be able to search the grounds freely. When I first showed up here, I thought I sensed an orb around the castle." Hellstorm explained. "Also, it would be a good cover for my staying here and I would not have to waste magic on keeping a human body."
"Very well, then I shall enter you into the tournament. Let's hope that you make it in." Ruby walked over to Hellstorm.
"With my skills, I doubt I can lose." Hellstorm pointed out.
"Not all of the Pokemon who have entered in the past were by any means normal. People have been known to raise... unusual Pokemon and bring them in." Ruby was what word would best be suited for her description.
"Unusual? What does that mean?" Hellstorm asked.
"I'm not sure how to describe it. You'll have to see it for yourself if Lord Nihlia brings her breeder with her this year." Ruby said.
"Your father always sends an invitation out to her and she always accepts." Victor said.