YWS: The Gathering

Infra bolted through a meadow, hoping he was headed in the right direction. He noticed a barn with a hole in the roof and nodded to himself, running directly into the forest beyond and finding the clearing he'd left Ultra in. There was no sign of him.

"Ultra!" Infra called out. "Are you... here?"

Infra had a feeling his brother wasn't in the same world as him. He must've reached Heaven before the worlds collided. Hopefully Heaven itself hadn't been brought to this world as well.

Infra was at a loss of what to do now... his overreaction had cost him his allies. He began running in the opposite direction he had come from; something seemed to be drawing him towards it. Bursting out from the other side of the forest, Infra found himself on the edge of a freeway. Opposite him was the outskirts of a city, which Infra could see was a highly advanced one.

Checking the traffic, Infra made to cross the road, but stopped in the middle as he heard a car roar ever closer. He tried to dash the rest of the way but was hit by the car and flung into the back seat. There was a girl sitting back there, who jumped in shock as the demon hit the seat next to her.

Quinn growled and drew her dagger. Elegantly made with a fine sharp blade without a second thought she threw hitting the weird thing in the shoulder piercing the flesh and clothing without a problem. He swung round now eyes blazing she smiled cheekily, "Fella better hoof it an' git thet looked at."

She saw new arrival looking down sighing. No one ordered about her. While she was busy congradulating herself a fist swung and hit her stomach. She looked up winded her clothes all ruffled. Her assiailant was her victim she bit her tongue holding back the tears. Her eyes flashed intensely (the electric blue shining with such intensy) then her assailant hit himself once twice, thrice a look of shock on his features. . She cried out, very femamine and fell exhausted and confused. Her body falling uncoincious.

Grif was happy. The group of characters had finally been located. All they had to do was complete a stupid quest and it would all be good.

Then Infra ran off and before Grif could pursue him, he heard a scuffle behind him. He turned just in time to see Zephyrus knock himself out. Quinn passed out right next to him. Grif considered the wake up potion and discarded the idea. He would just have to sedate him to take the knife out.

Grif didn't need any medical supplies since the suit would automatically activate to repair his injuries, but he knew that others would need it. As a result, he had entered the field with a full surgeon's pack with the most advanced medical technology that SPEW could dream up.

Grif looked over at Colin, who was still confused.

"Tell me what happened."
"He told her to get moving, so she stabbed him. I don't understand what happened after that."

"Neither do I," Grif looked at Amelia. "This might be a little gross," Grif warned. Grif grabbed the knife and pulled it out.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Colin said. Grif pulled out a tube and squeezed out foam onto the open wound. The foam reacted with the wound instantly and right before their eyes it began healing the cut.

"I don't believe it."

"Nano-bots. They use your own body heat for power and they are able to accelerate healing processes. They enter your blood stream and fix you up pretty quick, until they're neutralized by white blood cells. You poop out small bits of metal for a month, but nothing is more effective that I have access to." They were now starting to heal the injuries he had inflicted on himself. He would have a nasty headache when he woke up, but he'd be fully functional.

Grif now turned his attention to Quinn. He took her knife and put it in one of the compartments built into his armor. He didn't know the whole story yet, but she had attacked another character with a lethal weapon. That was enough to make her a threat to the group.

"Colin, search her effects for any weapons or sharp objects. Amelia, if you will kindly search her more intimate areas for concealed weapons, I'd be much obliged." Grif was thankful that they did this without argument.

Grif heard Zephyrus begin to stir. Grif moved over towards him.

"Take it easy. You've been through a lot." Now, if I can just keep him from killing her, it will work out...

Zephyrus' eyes opened and widened a bit when he saw Grif. "How long was I out?" he asked.

"Only a few minutes." Grif asked, "Why were you hitting yourself?"

"I wasn't me, it was..." he stopped and looked at the unconscious Quinn. His teeth bared as a low growl trickled out of his throat.

"Don't even think about it. We've had enough fights for one day," Grif said.

Zephyrus sighed and said, "Yes, I know. I'm the one at fault, if I hadn't aggravated her she wouldn't have hurt me. When she threw the knife into my back it distracted me enough to lower my mental shields. She must have gone inside my head to make me punch myself. When I could think again I shut her out as strongly as I could, and in doing so caused both of us to fall unconscious." He began to rub the back of his shoulder where the knife had been. "Speaking of which, what happened to the knife."

Grif told him how he healed him with the nano-bots. He also warned him about the little "side-effect".

Zephyrus frowned and said, "Well, that's pleasant."

"I healed you, so you shouldn't be complaining."

Zephyrus shook his head. "Whatever, let's just get going. If we leave no we can reach Muzuki Village before nightfall."

Colin approached Quinn's sleeping body. "It doesn't look like he... she... it is going to wake up any time soon."

"Just call her a she," Zephyrus told him.

Colin nodded. "Anyway, I'll carry her to the village."

As they walked, questions began to race through Zephyrus' head. Questions of who or what he was, where he was and where he was from, and what would happen in the future. But there was one question that stood out the most.

As they walked Zephyrus turned his head toward Grif. "Hey, Grif."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know my author? If so, what's he like?"

Amelia

My ears pricked up at the question and I turned to Grif to see how he woud answer. For a moment, it was as if he hadn't heard the question at all but then he shrugged and nodded.

"I know all your authors... to some degree," Grif answered.

"So what's he like?" Zephyrus repeated.

"Interesting," Grif mused. "You presume it's a 'he'?"

"Is it not?"

"Would you mind if it wasn't?" Grif asked.

"Why are we referring to them as it? I wouldn't like to think that Chris thinks I'm an it," I interrupted.

"Kinda makes you think about all that God and religion stuff a little." Colin said to no one inparticular. He levitated the sleeping Quinn and placed a deflection barrier around its mind. He didn't want anymore incidents to happen with mind control.

"Let's go, we should try and locate Infra," Griff said, checking his various compartments.

"I cant sense him," Colin said, "his mind is sealed off to well."

"No matter, We'll locate him soon enough. Perhaps it would be wise to wanr the others of what dangers there were in your worlds. Since they could appear in this one."

Colin started, telling the others about the Shadows, but they were safe as long as they stayed in open light. It was going to be a long walk in an unknown place. Colin hoped they didn't have to face the Shadows.

"There's a few dangerous forces in my world," Zephyrus told them. "You've already seen Shiva, the Earth Dragon of Ice. There's also Charagon, the Earth Dragon of Fire, Dynamo, of Thunder, Draco, of Light, and Valmorr, of Darkness. The Earth Dragons of Fire, Thunder, Ice and Light are usually peaceful unless something bad is happening in the world. Valmorr, well, he's always doing something bad. Killing innocent people, destroying villages, turning nations against each other by possessing one of their kings. He's the one we have to worry about the most. Because if he's here, we're all in trouble."

"How strong is the Earth Dragon of Darkness?" Colin asked.

"All the Earth Dragons possess the same amount of strength. Valmorr just chooses to use his to bring pain to others. He won't confront us directly, it's not the way he thinks. The only time he causes direct damage it's when he destroys a city or something. If he wants to kill us, he'll send his minions after us, or invade our dreams."

"What about you Grif?" Zephyrus asked.

Grif thought about his encounters with the CCF, the Spammians, the Integral Terrorist group, Mechwarriors, and a half dozen other foes.

"They're not that bad," Grif said.

"I guess it would depend on our definition of bad," Colin said. He caught a few images from Griff's brain waves, seeing minor glimpses of the things he was thinking about.

"I wonder what the disruption to this world is," Amelia said. It was curious to think that everyone had been imagined in someone elses head. Every thought, adventure and dream had been written out for them. Until now.

"Should we try and locate Infra?" Colin asked, "He seems rather moody, but I dont want his creator to die."

"No," Zephyrus said. "He's going through a rough time right now. When he's ready, he'll come back. Right now we need to go to the village." As they walked Zephyrus thought, Karen is definitely going to kill me this time...

(Sorry, I just got out of bed and that's all I can think of.)

Amelia

We set out again towards the village, taking it in turns to carry the still unconscious Quinn and keeping an eye out for Infra.

"You mind if I have a go on that hover board you have?" Grif asked about an hour into the journey.

"Hover board?" I echoed. "You mean my jetter?" He nodded and I took the board from under my arm and handed it across.

"Want me to show you how to use it?" I asked.

"No need," he replied, "Adelaide should be able to work it out.

Adam watched as Griff rose off the ground, he seemed to have control. The it shot forward, faster than he had intended. With a crash, Griff was grounded. Everyone ran to his aid, Amelia looking at her Jetter.

"I told you it was sensitve!" screamed Adelaide from inside Griff's helmet.

"No need to scream!" he yelled back.

"Oy, What's all za yellin' fer?" groaned Quinn. It slowly came around while Griff allowed Adelaide to scan him.

"I'll go on ahead," Colin said, "You guys catch a rest while I scout out the town."

"You can't go alone," Griff said," If something happens to you..."

"I'll be fine," with a swift motion Colin flew off to the village. It was only a few minutes away.

Amelia

Fortunately a brief inspection showed that the Jetter wasn't damaged beyond a few scratches and according to Adelaide, the same was true of Grif.

"You're not going to cause more trouble are you?" I asked Quinn as the very masculine female or the vaguely feminine male began to crawl to its feet.

"Trouble? I don' be causin' no trouble," Quinn scowled. "Now 'ow about you gives me a hand." I helped Quinn up and then we headed out again and reached the village just a few minutes later. Zephyrus hurried towards a girl who was stood at the gate, her arms folded across her chest and a scowl disfiguring her face. The rest of us hovered awkwardly until Colin landed beside us.

"There's trouble in the town," he informed us. "And it's not from my story so I have no idea how to deal with it."

"What took you so long?" the girl asked. "You said you would be here in the morning. The sun has almost set!" The girl had long, black hair and wore traditional women's clothing. She carried a bow and quiver full of arrows on her back. She looked no older than Zephyrus, but the way she spoke and the way she held herself gave her the look of a twenty-five year old.

Zephyrus started yelling back at the girl. "Look, Karen, I came here as fast as I could! It's not my fault the forests are full of monsters and demons!"

"Is that your excuse for everything? You're late because of a few fights? I ran into a bunch of monsters on my way over and I managed to get here on time!"

"Well, excuse me for taking time out of your life to keep myself alive! I was almost killed by an Earth Dragon less than an hour ago!"

As Amelia watched them bicker she couldn't help but notice how much they looked like a married couple. They didn't fight in a way that led others to believe they actually hated each other. She approached the two. "Excuse me?"

Zephyrus and Karen turned at the same time to face her.

"What!?"
"What!?"

Amelia hesitated, then said, "I'm sorry to interrupt your... discussion, Zephyrus, but didn't you say your friend would have some information that would point us in the right direction?"

Zephyrus froze for a second. He had been so into the argument that he had forgotten. He turned to Karen. "Did you find anything out?"

"Yes. There's all sorts of different creatures appearing in the wilds. Before they used to be just demons and the occasional dragon. But in the past few days I've seen creatures that I've never seen before."

"Anything else?"

She nodded. "We were traveling north when we found a city made entirely out of metal with strange flying creatures made of steel and iron. The others went ahead to see what else they could find. Other than that, there's nothing else to report."

Zephyrus sighed and shook his head. He turned to the others. "Nothing about any item. Sorry."

"Maybe we already know what the item is," Grif suggested.

The others turn to him. "What do you mean?" Colin asked.

"What if the item is something from one of your worlds that was brought over into this one? What's the most important artifact from your original worlds?" He directed the question to everybody.

"I think I have an idea," Zephyrus said.

"What?"

"The Tenjin."

"The Tenjin?" Colin asked, "What's that?"

"It's a sword of great power that was created by the first Dragon Knights thousands of years ago. It holds the raw power of Chaos, the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Krazatan, the Chaos Dragon."

Amelia

Grif nodded thoughtfully. "That's possible," he agreed. "Anyone else?"

"Well... there's the book," I admitted.

"A book? 'ow can a book be valuable?" Quinn scoffed.

"It's not just 'a book' it's the book. It's a story about this world, my world, your world and every other world that could possibly exist. Whoever has it can change the course of history!"

"Oh how cliche," Colin sighed, rolling his eyes.

"We have to cover for every possibility but let's go after the Tenjin first. Any idea where to find it?" Grif asked.