The Forge, an alliance that Earth has formed with many other planets found in our galaxy. Many saw it as a blessing and encouraged the interaction with the races found on these worlds. There are few who disagree with this and seek to divide these worlds apart and cause an intergalactic war. At first the worlds were able to fend off any attempts made by these individuals but as time went on they started to become more of a problem as their numbers grew and they became more organized. The Forge was still able to push them back until one day a strange individual, who went by Purgatory, had shown up out of the blue and was commanding the forces of these galactic terrorist. Under this Purgatory's leadership, the group, that now called themselves The Rippers, were no longer bent on ripping apart the alliance but galactic takeover and were able to beat back the troops that stood in their way.

When all seemed lost and The Rippers' victory inevitable, a single man came to block their path and openly challenged Purgatory to a duel. The man didn't seem like anything special and all those that were present had began to prepare for their new lives as slaves but Purgatory accepted as to show that he respected this individual's courageous, but foolish request. At least that's what they all thought at first glance. When the dual had started, Purgatory had allowed a good amount of hits before making his move. This is where things became interesting as the man was only sent back a few feet before going back to deliver another flurry of punches. After knocking the man back several more times Purgatory had begun to grow irritated and used his power on the man. During the war that Purgatory started, he had made it a point to display his control over the other side as he brought countless souls back from the dead and the power of the unholy flames.

When he was forced to use this power on a seemingly ordinary man Purgatory became even more enraged and sought to make an example out of this human that had dared to oppose him. That is when the man made his move as Purgatory drew closer to him, ready to drive him into the ground with a flame covered fist, all watched as Purgatory was sent flying by a bolt of crimson lighting. From there the battle turned towards his favor and the people of The Forge had growing hopes as they watched this man, this hero, give the space tyrant a run for his money. The battle took several long grueling hours as these strange beings fought with all their might to beat the other and the man who controlled lightning had inspired the remaining soldiers to fight against the Rippers' army and believed they would be able to win and take back control. The final moments of the war were drawing near as troops from both sides were unable to fight and Purgatory and the man, that they deemed the Lightning Master, were on their last legs as they were battered and beaten. The final strike, that was all that was needed to end the war and decide the victor, they both knew this and were ready to use what strength they had left to make sure it was them.

After their strikes connected all present watched with bated breath as the two warriors stood there, backs towards each other, and staying perfectly still. Soon both fell to the ground, too exhausted to hold themselves up but it was declared a victorious day for the Forge as the citizens came to the aid of their protectors and forced the Rippers back to whence they came. Purgatory was taken with them and all praised the Lightning Master for his bravery. He kept the peace once he was back on his feet and kept Purgatory at bay as they continued to battle from that day forth.

It has been ten years since Purgatory showed up and everything was better than ever with the help of the one called Lightning Master even if he has proved to be a handful as it was discovered that the man was incredibly mischievous. He might takes things too far at times with his pranks and jokes and he doesn't seem to care but no one does anything as they have come to understand that he does what he does to get some joy in his live seeing as he is their only defense against the likes of Purgatory. But one day, in the year 2187, both of them disappear and were never seen again, but our story begins on the last day either one was seen.

"So how have things been lately Lightning Master?" a reptilian man asked mockingly as the man groaned.

"I told you to not call me that while we're civvies Tonoe." The man said as he shoves Tonoe over a dingy couch.

"But it's so fun to tease you with it knowing that irritates so much. Besides it sounds so much cooler than your real name. Drake Angelo, I looked up their origins and learned that your parents are calling you a dragon angel. Is that what you want to be called instead, the dragon angel because I happen to think that it sounds gay." Tonoe said as he patted down his clothes.

"Well you would be the expert on all things gay now wouldn't you Tonoe, or should call you The Belly Dancer." Drake said with a toothy grin an intense blush appeared on Tonoe's face.

"Hey, you agreed to never mention that again!"

"Nooooo, I said that I would never mention it around other people but I wouldn't worry about it too much man. If you roll like that I'm okay with it just....just never try to make a move on me otherwise I might be forced to punch you." Drake went over to give his reptilian friend a friendly pat on the back as he sat next to him.

"Thanks dude, it means a lot to hear you say that, well except for the getting punched part, but still thanks. You're the only person I know that will defend me whenever shit gets out of hand with the insults."

"Still can't believe that those assholes just sat there and kept egging them on. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm keeping a low profile I would have electrocuted those fuckers on the spot but I had to settle for electrifying their drinks instead so I guess it was still a good day when you exclude the insults." Drake chuckled a little at the memory of the distorted faces of Tonoe's so called friends as they drank the charged up beverages.

"Still can't believe you managed to do even that without detection but I have to admit the face Lia made was the funniest one there. She was all like 'DUHHHH'. Tonoe made it look as though his jaw was swinging around limply and his eyes were squirrely before we busted out laughing. An alarm went off as they were calming down and Drake turned towards a blank wall that soon opened up to reveal a monitor. The monitor showed an overview of the planets that were a part of the Forge Alliance before it began triangulating the origins of the signal. After showing that it was on a distant world it put up a video display from a security camera and Drake let a smirk onto his features.

"It would seem that my old pal Purgatory and his Ripper pals are causing problems again. Well I better go and show them the errors of their ways, not before saying hello though." Drake said as he walked away from the monitor to another wall that opened up, after he stepped on a hidden plate in front of it, to get his suit and some other equipment that he thought that he would need.

"Uh Drake, you might want to hurry. It says here that they're heading towards the Nanocell Experimenting Lab, you remember what they're working on in there don't you?" Drake's eyes widened at the mention of the lab and got everything he needed situated before heading back to the terminal below the monitor and pressed a glowing orange that opened up the floor behind them. A spacecraft that looked like a futuristic, sleek designed hover bike, came up and Drake hopped on and started it up.

"We'll hang out as soon as I get out of the hospital Tonoe but I don't think that'll be a long stay." Drake said as Tonoe walked up to him.

"You really think that it'll be that bad?" Tonoe asked as he was worried for his friend.

"Purgatory was basically there already by the time the alarm sounded and even on BlackStreak here, it'll take a couple of hours to get the Nanocell Labs. By then he'll have whatever weapon he's looking for and will have to wait for their pick up. I'll get there in time to stop them from leaving but I know that I'll be taking some hits from whatever he'll have plus anything the Rippers are going to have. So yeah today is going to be a painful one."

"Alright man, but you better come back soon otherwise I'm going to track you down and make you wish that you were dead!" Tonoe shouted as Drake ascended into air and took off towards the experimenting facility.

As predicted, Drake had gotten to the planet in a matter of hours and took a couple more of minutes to get the lab. There's no one out here. Not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one." Drake said as he observed the damage that made it evident that Purgatory had indeed been there and was possibly still inside with no signs of any goons to pick him up.

Deciding that he wanted to get this over with fast he made a barrier of pure electrical energy surround BlackStreak before angling its nose straight down. Activating his afterburners he sped towards the ceiling of the lab and kept going down when he was through as he was tracing Purgatory's unholy power levels.

He stopped when he came to the lowest levels of the lab's basement and spotted Purgatory with a small army of Rippers standing around a strange device. They all looked up when they heard something come through the ceiling and get their weapons ready when they spotted Drake descending to stand in front of the group, electricity already flowing through his hands.

"Ah, Lightning, so glad that you could make it. I was worried that you wouldn't be here before I unveiled my surprise to the rest of the Forge." Purgatory said as he made his way to Drake, neither one taking their eyes off of the other.

"Well I would have been here sooner but I got my invitation a little late but I made to hurry over when I did. So mind telling me what you're doing here?" Drake said with a neutral expression as the two continued to stare each other down.

"Well you tell me, you should remember what that is," Purgatory said as he pointed to the device behind him. "You were the one that helped figure out that additional dimensions did, in fact, exist. I'm just here to travel to one and extend the......hospitality that we have to share here and maybe offer a few of them to come back with us." The Rippers started laughing when they heard the word hospitality as they thought how they were going to go about showing beings from another dimension their own 'hospitality'.

"Yes, but I also know that that thing is still unstable. If you turn it on it could either destroy the planet from the repercussions of the explosion that would surely take place or just end up have the portal collapse and be trapped in whatever dimension you're going to. I'm actually hoping for that second option as long as that is all that happens."

"Well then I'll be able some of your worries to rest then. I've made some modifications to the device that takes away any possibility that it'll explode but the portal still has a chance to collapse. That is why we have this second device that will allow us to open it up again without that fear and return with some new friends." Purgatory had an evil smirk at the mentions of friends and Drake was done listening to the mad man.

He released an emp wave, knocking down the Rippers that were beside Purgatory who had jumped away at the last moment the shock that would follow should he be hit. Drake aimed for the Dimensional Portal device only for one Ripper use themselves as a meat shield to protect it. He tried again only to come up with the same results and decided to just go for Purgatory instead. Rippers got in the way of their fight as they tried to assist their leader only to get burned or electrocuted as the two exchanged shots. Drake was determined to destroy the machine behind him to prevent another war at all cost. He knew that it was by luck that he had managed to take down Purgatory at the end of the war and has been trying to make himself stronger ever since he got out of the hospital.

He already knew how to get to the machine as he and Purgatory had a set way that they would go at it where it'd start of with simply popping of shots at each other at first for a while before going in for close combat. Drake was going to use to first part to move Purgatory into a position where he could set off a shot towards him and he would end up getting the device destroyed when he dodged thus destroying it. It had to be timed perfectly so that none of the Rippers could get in the way.

It took a good five minutes but he had managed it as a bolt whizzed past Purgatory and headed towards the device. It was so close when a previously injured Ripper had somehow found the strength to move and yet again got themselves electrocuted. This enraged Drake greatly as he had enough of their meat shield bull crap and extended the electrical charge running through his hands all the way up his arms and went straight for the machine. He was stopped as Purgatory tackled him down and started beating into him. Drake kicked him off and launched himself at him, giving him a beating of his own. Purgatory got Drake off of him before started to have an epic struggle of strength as they seeked to overpower the other. They were so engrossed in their struggle that they had both forgotten what they came here for and focused on each other that they failed to notice that they destroyed the portal device, or that there was a black vortex that was beginning to grow and suck in everything in the area.

Having stopped mid-strike without it being their will is what finally got them to notice what was happening. Once they did they also noticed that they were being sucked into it as well and struggled to get a foothold. Drake latched onto a vent opening that had the latch already gone and Purgatory used his powers to have several undead servants hold him down. Seeing this Drake started firing at the undead when he felt that he wasn't going to be sucked into the vortex. It was working as one by one the servants were destroyed and Purgatory was inching closer towards to vortex. He tried to find something else to grab onto when he noticed Drake's BlackStreak along with a chain that had wrapped itself around it. He grabbed it and pulled it towards him in hopes of using it to get away but Drake wasn't having it.

"Oh hell no asshole, no one fucks with BlackStreak." Drake said as he made his way to the chain that connected the two. He was being dragged inch after inch towards to sucking vortex until he reached the chain. He pulled out an eight-inch dagger and brought it down, hard, and broke the chain. Purgatory was pulled right in once it was and Drake watched with a gleeful expression at how angry he was. He felt the chain give more than it normally did and looked towards Blackstreak only for his world to suddenly go dark as something came into contact with his head and felt very light all of sudden. Drake understood that something smashed into his head and rendered him nearly unconscious and he was slipping further into it as he lost the strength to resist the pull of the vortex and was being sucked in as well.

"Fuck....." Was the last he remembered saying as lost the hold on his senses and the portal closed behind him.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think of the first chapter of Lightning Master. It took me three tries just to find a way to start off the story with something I could work off of and finally got this. I'm more confident in this beginning that I was with the others so will probably stick with it but will make adjustments to it should I find anything wrong that I missed before.