Rise Of The Black Ranger

The group after a few moments of walking up the stairs got out and were above ground as they saw the others just sitting around waiting for them before Axel and Dillon noticed them and waved the group who walked over to them and once Ziggy and Logan were through the door it shut behind them

Dillon stood himself up and walked up to the group about to say something before he noticed Ace who was being carried by Gil.

“Oh he’s awake,” Dillon said out loud before smiling Axel came forwards afterwards and placed his hand on Dillon's head.

“I take it he can’t walk yet?” Axel asked.

“No… I just fall forwards onto my face,” Ace responds looking at Axel.

“I know that feeling far too well..” Ziggy muttered remembering his training from Axel a week or two back.

“It probably won’t take too long for you to be able to walk again so don’t worry” Axel stated with a soft smile.

“That's easy for you to say,” Ace responds his head resting atop Gil’s.

“It didn’t take Logan too long to be able to walk again and he woke up earlier today” Ziggy commented glancing at Ace.

“Off that topic for a moment, what’s your name?” Dillon asked.

“The code that I was given or the name that was chosen?” Ace asks nervously

“The name that was chosen…I think” Dillon replied.

“Well… Hiryur said my name was Ace… although I think that code was something like DR-AC-01.” Ace replied, rubbing his head.

“Oh…I think I’ll just stick with Ace then” Ace heard Dillon reply.

“Might be for the best,” Ace agrees with a nervous chuckle.

Dillon did the same as Axel just smirked in response before ruffling Dillon's hair, the boy attempting to swat Axel’s hand away, “Axel knock it off!” the boy whined as the older boy just chuckled at his little brother's attempts.

“I’m surprised the lot of you didn’t find somewhere to sit down for a bit,” Shade points out as he walks towards the group.

“We decided to wait here and we kinda got into the topic on how I got amnesia,” Dillon said while he held Axel’s hand back.

“And how much do you remember regarding that?” Shade asks as Reina rubbed up against his leg.

“I remember a lot of it in that regard…” Dillon admitted.

“Anything specific?” Gil asks looking at Dillon.

“I remember talking to someone I think it was my sister, the conversation is still fuzzy but she pushed me out of the window of what looked like our base of operations which were a few stories up and not even a moment later an explosion went off,” Dillon said before taking a breath, “I was scared I couldn't move I couldn’t think the only thing I could see was the fire that was spreading in the area and that our enemy was surrounding me and I lost it, the anger took over and I fought them till I couldn’t anymore, but they wanted to make an example out of me”.

Dillon took another breath as he shook his head, “Dillon you don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable” he heard Axel say.

“No I'm ok,” Dillon replied as he continued, “One of them seemed like one of the guys in charge he grabbed me by the face and lifted me up in the air and began taunting me and my response to those taunts was slamming my foot into his face, that pissed him off and I felt who knows how many volts of electricity being directed into my head my body felt like it was losing every bit of strength until I couldn’t move entirely once he was done he walked to a nearby cliff and dropped me the last thing I saw was him looking at me with that sickening smirk before I lost consciousness”.

It was silent as everyone looked at the boy who just sighed, “I don’t how I survived but once I find that bastard I'm gonna tear him apart”.

“And you think it would go any better this time than it did before?” Gil asks with a curious look in his eye.

“Won’t know till I try, besides he got me after I couldn’t fight anymore” Dillon replied.

“Either way, just don’t go looking for a fight with him if you can help it,” Shade responded as he walked towards the castle, “Besides. If you were at a base I can assume you had a group who all were defeated before that as well. Chances are he did that to you.”

“Fair point…” Dillon said with a sigh as he and the others began to follow behind Shade.

Once the group reached the castle they saw what looked to be a large open field, that had multiple benches scattered around the area. One of the benches had Luna sitting on them with Midnight sitting on her lap.

Dillon along with Axel, Ziggy and Logan just sat on a nearby bench, the boys just sitting there in silence before Dillon just laid his head to the side next to Axel who gently grabbed the boys head and placed it on his lap meanwhile Ziggy just had Logan laying on his Axel just glancing towards the two with a soft smile before seeing Shade walk to Luna and Midnight.

“I assume by the fact your both up here already that everyone was out like a light when you left?” Shade asks as he sits down next to Luna.

“Well, they were all asleep if that's what you mean,” Luna responds, “Although two did wake back up and asked if they could play with Midnight and as they referred to him, ‘the doggy’ again.”

Dillon’s ear twitched from overhearing her saying as he defensively placed his hands on his ears while letting out a low whine.

“Have you not learnt to keep your ears covered by now?” Midnight asked to a chuckle as she appeared behind Shade, her chin resting on the top of his head.

“Easy for you to say you’ve barely been on the other side of it…” Dillon grumbled.

“She will be getting used to it from now on,” Luna responds a magic hand reaching behind Midnight’s ears as Dillon saw the hand begin to scratch behind her wings her body tensing up as she fell backwards laughing uncontrollably on the ground behind Shade. “I mean she is a princess even if she doesn’t look like it.”

The boys seeing this just let out a unanimous snort in response and attempted to stop themselves from laughing.

“I’m surprised she doesn’t have her own little tiara on by now,” Shade points out.

“Same could be said for you not having a crown on your head,” Luna points out with a smirk. “I mean I’m sure my sister is trying to sort one for you.”

“I’m more surprised there isn’t some kind of outfit being sent my way by now,” Shade responded.

“Well she is trying to find a tailor to make you one. But its not like we have ever had a Alicorn prince to measure or design a royal outfit for before now.” Luna points out.

Dillon overhearing the two sat up looking at the two before asking, “What are you two talking about?”.

“Oh all we are talking about the fact that he is in the eyes if most creatures royalty, that and the fact he doesn’t really look the part.” Luna asks looking at Dillon.

Dillon just looked to Shade for a moment before chuckling “Now that you say it he really doesn’t, guess I didn’t really pay it any mind, to be honest” the boy replied.

“Also at a glance he doesn’t fit the title my sister gave him,” Luna added with a chuckle. “I mean the title ‘Alicorn of War’ is what she gave him and people see a kind hearted creature looking after children.”

“Guess it would be jarring to see that after hearing title like that” Dillon replied letting out a low laugh at the thought.

“Yeah it would, imagine hearing that title before the meeting if I didn’t know him, id be shitting bricks” Axel commented.

“Maybe have the outfit for something like that be one of those cliched outfits for royalty with the red robe and furred collar, I remember that I read a lot of fantasy-based books with royalty as that” they hear Dillon say.

“Aren’t those kinds normally portrayed as self serving assholes?” Gil points out.

“Usually but not always, if not that maybe have it be like a two-piece suit of some kind, any of you got any suggestions?” Dillon asked.

“Nope” Axel blankly replied as Ziggy went into deep thought for a moment before shaking his head, “Yeah I got nothing”.

“Then I can assume you can see the issue my sister is having regarding this. He is the first Male alicorn in equestria. Nopony knows what is suitable for both his looks and a style to fit his title.” Luna responds.

“Definitely seems like a conundrum” Dillon admitted.

“Even then finding the right tailor to design clothing for him is a big ask,” Luna responds.

“Definitly the case when very few ponies are aware of me and my title,” Shade responds shaking his head.

“And the fact many refuse to design something around his title out of fear the bearer of said title with strike them down if it is not to their liking,” Luna adds with a shake of their heads, “it would be so much easier if their was a tailor or even a designer who both knew and trusted you.”

“Blame your sister for giving me a title that puts off most normal people,” Shade responds with a shake of his head.

“Possible dumb question, why did she give him that title?” Ziggy asked with a brow raised.

“Have you seen him fight up close before,” Luna responds with a curious look towards Ziggy.

The boy attempted to respond before stopping and going into thought again, “Have I?” before looking back to Luna, “I don’t think I have actually”.

“Let’s just say you would be unnerved if you saw for yourself,” Axel said looking towards him, while Dillon just quietly nodded in agreement.

“He capable of defeating a large group of monsters before we were sent to the moon,” Luna points out, “and that was before he had any experience with his belt.”

“Well… I did have one thousand years training with you on the moon,” Shade points out.

“I never worked out why we could fly on the moon although it did help you when you crashed for the first year.” Luna responds with a chuckle.

“Wait yall were on the moon?” they heard Ziggy ask.

“Yes. For one thousand years… give or take,” Shade responds with a smile.

“I…how- okay im not asking any further into that, probably gonna give me a headache,” Ziggy said with a sigh.

“May be for the best,” Luna responds, “It’s kind of hard to explain without using magic as a reason.”

“Given how neither me nor Ziggy understand magic your most likely right” Dillon added with a chuckle.

“You can explain a lot away with that in this world,” a voice responded from behind them as they saw Alexis and Simon walking towards the group carrying several small black cardboard containers, in their arms.

“Is that?” Alexis heard Dillon ask as she saw him point to the cardboard containers.

“You took a bit longer than expected so I ended up making a few more than planned,” Alexis responds as the boxes are placed on the table and opened revealing pizza’s inside each of them.

Dillon and Ziggy just looked at the pizza’s before smelling them causing both of them to drool before the two boys immediately grabbed a slice and began to snack.

“You might aswell all try them they’ll go to waste otherwise,” Shade responds as he stands up allowing others to sit down as Simon simply shrugs his shoulders taking Shade’s seat.

“Your not going to have a slice?” Alexis asks looking at Shade.

“Don’t need to eat remember. You take my slices, you’ve earn’t them,” Shade responds gesturing to the table as Alexis sits down beside Simon grabbing a piece of pizza.

Ziggy was taking another bite of out his slice of pizza before noticing that Logan was looking at it intently, taking this as a good indication that he wanted some Ziggy grabbed another slice and passed it to him Logan sniffing the slice before taking a bite and not even a moment later quickly scarfing it down.

“Logan slow down, don't want you to choke,bud” Ziggy said with a chuckle.

“Sorry…” Logan said with his mouth full before slowly chewing and swallowing down his food.

“Don’t worry about it bud” Ziggy replied, rubbing Logan's head before going back to eating.

“Is it any good?” Alexis asked looking at the group.

Axel gave a thumbs up while chewing on his last slice of pizza, and Dillon immediately swallowed the food in his mouth, “It’s delicious!”.

“It's really good,” Ziggy said in response while Logan quickly nodded while he continued eating.

“This may be my first time eating it but you definitely raised the bar for pizza for me,” Axel said to Alexis.

“It’s not something I’ve had the pleasure of trying before,” Luna responds calmly looking at the group, “But still it’s better than most of the things they eat in Canterlot.”

“Well that stuff is made my the best chefs in Equestria,” Shade points out.

“And I’m no Gorden Ramsay or Jamie Oliver,” Alexis responds with a dismissive wave.

“Still can make a really good pizza though I think this is the first hot meal I've had in a while” Dillon replied as he grabbed another slice.

“I've been meaning to ask since you remember how you got amnesia how long do you think you were by yourself for?” Ziggy asked Dillon who placed his hand on his chin, “From the fire and what that guy did to me maybe a couple of weeks maybe a month some of it still blurry though”.

“If we do encounter that guy we’ll be there for you,” Axel said towards the boy.

After a little while, everyone began to finish up with eating and stood up from the table as the boys started stretching out as all of their tails extended out in tandem, “Man that was good” Dillon said as he saw the others looks towards them, “What?” the group pointing towards their tails which were wagging.

“Nothing really. You just look a bit too excited,” Simon responds with a smirk.

The boy raised his brow before looking back to see his tail before immediately attempting to grab it trying to stop it from moving.

“Im not even gonna try it,” Axel said blankly while Ziggy just nodded in agreement.

“I don’t think it’s long enough for you to chase your own tail yet,” Luna points out chuckling as she looks at Dillon.

“Thing has a mind of its own!” Dillon grunted out attempting to grab it before falling over his own feet letting out a yelp as he fell to the ground as his tail continued to wag.

His brothers just let out a snort after seeing this as Dillon just grumbled to himself, “You ok down there?” Axel asked with a smirk.

“Screw you, Axel…” they heard the boy mumble in response.

“I think he enjoyed it a bit too much,” Luna points out as she smirks looking down at Dillon.

The boy just let out a low whine, “Give me a break it’s been a while since I had a hot meal…” Dillon then pushed himself up from the ground.

“I hope at least one of you knows how to cook or create a fire to cook on,” Alexis asks looking at the three of them.

“I just follow what those two do” Axel said as he pointed to Dillon and Ziggy.

“I know how to cook but since we got turned into timberwolf hybrids we can eat raw meat so didn’t really need to make a fire” Ziggy stated.

“But our diet usually consists of either raw meat or berries mostly” Dillon added.

“Your are still human though. Being half Timberwolf won’t satisfy your needs as for the human parts of you,” Shade points out.

“I know that just been trying to get used to things it’s only been the past week that things started to actually feel normal again, I mean as normal as Equestria gets I suppose” Dillon replied.

“Trust me when I say. If you think your living a normal life as a Displaced you have no hope of it lasting,” Simon points out, “I mean chances are considering your Displaced as what you are you’ll be attacked by monsters on a weekly basis at best.”

“Yeah, your right, guess it’s just a matter of time until it happens I guess” Dillon admits.

“Is that spoken from experience or assuming Murphy’s Law will be at play?” Shade asks looking at Dillon.

“Honestly?” Dillon said before adding, ”Given my luck, it’s pretty much a mix of both” Dillon responded with a sigh.

“Then may it not be an idea to ensure you are all capable of holding your ground in any situation?” Shade asks looking at the group.

“Im not opposed to it” Axel responded as Ziggy nodded in agreement, “Neither am I”.

“If it prepares us for certain situations might as well” Dillon adds.

“Then why don’t you use the arena to train for a bit?” Alexis suggests looking at the three of them.

“There’s an arena?” Ziggy asked surprised.

“Well there was one in the process of being made but it’s not intended to be used for any more than a training ground right now,” Shade calmly responds.

“Works for me,” Ziggy said with a smile as his brothers nodded alongside him.

“Are you ok with us going there now?” Dillon asked before adding, “Because Im willing to start now if it means we’ll be prepared”.

“Same here,” Axel and Ziggy say in unison.

“I guess we can start now if you are all ready,” Shade responds as he looked away from the group into the distance.

“Yep were ready!” Dillon said with a smile before they heard nibbling back at the table, looking back to see Logan snacking on another slice of pizza before he noticed all of them looking towards him.

“What?” the wolf said with a mouthful before swallowing it down.

“Logan if you want, you can grab a slice to take with you so you can eat while we're training,” Ziggy said to the wolf who just nodded as pizza sauce could be seen on his mouth.

Not even a moment later Alexis could be seen walking up to Logan before crouching in front of him, taking out a napkin she gently wiped off his face of the pizza sauce, “What is it with you lot and being a mess,” Alexis adds with a kind smile.

Logan in response just looked away embarrassed as he rubbed his index finger against his cheek.

“You ok bud?” he heard Ziggy say to him before he looked up to see Ziggy covering his mouth in a chuckle.

“Shut up…” the wolf said in a pout as he looked away again.

“Oh come on, I didn’t mean any offense by it Logan” Ziggy replied, while Logan just let out a huff feeling Alexis wipe the last bit of sauce from his mouth before looking at Logan.

“If you want to take some time to sit and talk about anything in private, i’m happy to stay with you so you can get things off your chest,” Alexis added rubbing the top of Logan’s head avoiding touching his ears.

The wolf just gently shook his head in response, “No..im fine” his eyes then shut, a small smile showing on his maw as a mild reaction from Alexis rubbing his head.

“You sure?” Alexis asked looking at the young wolf with a kind smile.

Logan just glanced to Ziggy who just gave him a nod, “It’s ok Logan you can trust her”, the young wolf just looked back up to Alexis, “I-i wouldn’t mind that”.

“Okay. Do you want to stay here for now while the others go and do what they need to. I need to clean all this up anyway,” Alexis replies, gesturing to the remaining food on the table before leaning in a whispering something to Logan the others couldn’t hear.

The young wolf’s face just changed to one of surprise before he smiled and quickly nodded towards her.

“You all make a start with whatever you are going to do. We’ll catch up with you once we’re sorted,” Alexis responds with a smile.

“Take as long as you both need,” Shade responds smiling at the two of them before looking at everyone else who was present. “Any of you want to come along?”

“I’ll catch up soon,” Luna responds as Midnight nods in agreement.

“I’ll stay with the princess. Someone needs to lead her to you when she’s ready,” Simon points out.

“I’ll stay with you. Besides it might be a good idea for me to keep an eye on how you all fight,” Gil responded as Hiryur grabbed ahold of Gil’s hand while Ace grabbed Hiryurs just as quickly.

“Don’t be surprised if you see these two argue and fight like animals then” Axel said with a smirk as Dillon and Ziggy looked at him with frowns before he immediately scooped them both up and held them up by their sides.

“I resent that!” Dillon growled out attempting to get out of Axel’s grip as Ziggy attempted to do the same, “We don’t fight that much!”.

“I have a lot of times of seeing you two doing that to say otherwise” Axel retorted with the same shit-eating grin.

“And I need to see how capable all three of you are right now to decide what training you each need,” Shade adds before gesturing for everyone to follow him. “”Where we need to go is this way.”

They closely follow behind Shade as they left the area while Alexis and the others stayed behind at the tables.

As soon as they group had left Luna looked towards Alexis, “So… who wants to place a bet on how that goes with them?” the Alicorn only getting a smirk back from Alexis.

After five minutes of walking through the town the group arrived outside a large enclosed area, stone walls raising upwards into the sky, the side adorned with banners each vibrently coloured with many different emblems on them.

“Whoa” Ziggy said in awe as his two brothers just nodded in agreement.

“Well this is the place. It’s not really in use yet considering we’ve not had cause to use it so i suppose this is it’s grand opening in a way,” Shade admits as he walked towards an arched entrance that had three flags hanging above them. The sun, The moon and in the centre the familiar red eye-shaped mark that was resting a black background.

“Glad we're part of the grand opening then” Axel commented as he and the others followed Shade through the arched entrance.

Dillon just glanced at Ziggy before whispering to him, “Methinks were going to get our asses kicked once we start in there”.

“Glad im not the only one that thinks that” Ziggy responded to Dillon with nervous smile on his face.

“I wouldn’t worry. Your not the ones who are the focus for this to start with,” Shade adds looking at Axel, “only one of you will be facing me.”

Dillon just looked to Shade before turning his attention to Axel, “Oh ok, good luck then brother”.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence little brother” Axel blankly replied.

“No problem” Dillon replied with a coy smile.

Axel just shook his head in response as he and the others continued to follow behind Shade the group walking through the path as they saw some light illuminating the end of it and once they reached it the boy partly covered their eyes before they found themselves in the inside of the arena.

The interior of the arena was sparsely decorated and beyond what looked to be stone steps lined up like seats around the edge of the arena their was no defining features to the interior.

“You know you don’t really think about it, but you don’t really expect a stadium or arena to be as big as it is when you look at it from the outside” Ziggy commented as Axel placed him and Dillon back on their feet.

“Now that you say that I kinda agree you don’t really expect it until you see the inside” Dillon replied stretching as low pops could be heard from his joints.

“I know this place isn’t much but we’re still working on making the interior looks suitable,” Shade responds as he stepp inside the arena, “but right now I would recommend that everyone but Axel goes into the stands and watches.”

The group just nod and walk up to the stands while Axel stayed where he was with Shade as everyone sat themselves down. Once Shade was sure that everyone was clear he turned back to Axel, “Okay then. I assume you know what i’m expecting of you?”

“Most likely but just to be sure can you remind me?” Axel replied.

“Firstly. What weapon do you normally fight with?” Shade asked looking at Axel.

“The weapon I usually fight with is a broadsword” he heard Axel answer as the older boy made one appearance in his left hand, “like this one, I managed to nick this one off of one of the dismantled robots from two weeks ago”.

“Do you mind if I borrow it for one second?” Shade asks holding his hand out towards Axel as he nodded before handing the sword to Shade with it’s handle pointed towards him, which he took slowly turning it in his hand.

“Okay then, we can work with this,” Shade responded holding the blade in one hand his others palm open facing the ground as a hole opened beside him and a wooden sword rose from it the handle stopping next to his waiting hand as he grabbed it turning it the air, before turning bith blades back towards Axel. “This should be around the same as what your using.”

Axel just grasped onto the blade before looking at it and giving it a test swing, “Alright then, what now?”.

Shade didn’t respond for a moment taking a step backwards away from Axel, “using the wooden sword. Fight me. I’m not transformed and am remaining unarmed, your goal is to get three clean hits on me.”

The older boy just nodded in response before flipping it backward and placing it in a reverse grip while tightening his grip on the handle before immediately rushing towards Shade before stopping, the momentum causing him to slide forward using an upswing towards Shade, who quickly side stepped Axel’s blow before striking his hand his blade being knocked from his grasp to the floor.

“Not good enough. Pick it up. Try again,” Shade ordered facing Axel again standing sideways his back hand clenched and front open towards him.

Axel immediately picked the blade back up before rushing back toward Shade as he swung towards Shade again before twisting his body to the side and aiming for his legs attempting to use a feint against him.

“Axel. Your too predictable,” Shade respond before spinning backwards his foot kicking the arm holding the sword forcing the arm to lock straight the blade to far forwards from Shade as his kicked his leg back kicking the side of Axel’s head before jumping off his back leg kicking Axel dirfectly in the centre of his chest.

Axel let out a loud cough as he was pushed back the older boy fell to his knee, “Oh that looks like it hurt” Ziggy said as he winced as Dillon just covered his mouth with his fist.

“Axel. Again,” Shade ordered, “this time don’t try and fight me head on, rushing in won’t make it any easier for you,” Shade warned him.

Axel just stumbled back onto his feet before grabbing onto the sword again, and once he did he began to slowly circle around Shade, as Shade slowly turned on his feet keeping Axel in his sights.

“Ok Axel, just don’t overextend but don’t be too defensive” Axel muttered to himself before he saw Shade begin to move forward seeming to be bouncing on the feet slightly moving towards Axel before throwing a punch forwards towards axel’s chest.

Axel's eye’s widened as he bent backward Shade’s punch narrowly missed him before he swung his blade from the side about to hit Shade before he moved away from the last second, still bouncing on balls of his feet..

“Damn it!” Axel growled out as he bent back forwards finding Shade’s foot high in the air above him as he brough it down onto the shoulder of the arm holding swords the force of the hit sending a jolt down his arm.

The older boy’s arm immediately went limp as the blade fell to the floor he grit his teeth as fell to his knee his free arm grasping onto where he was hit “what did you do, why can’t I move my arm?”

“It’ll go back to normal soon,” Shade responds standing over Axel’s body looking down at him as Shade kicked the blade up from the ground into his hand bringing the wooden blade down stopping just above Axel’s head.

“And stop.” Shade responds bringing the wooden sword back from above Axel’s head, “you still have a lot to improve on.”

Axel just looked down before removing his hand from his shoulder which was shaking , “I’ll make sure to get better”.

“And i’ll make sure to ensure you do,” Shade responded holding his hand out to Axel.

Axel just grasped Shade’s hand and was pulled back up to his feet before he grasped onto his limp arm again.

“This may hurt,” Shade responded before striking Axel’s limp shoulder with the palm of his a loud pop being heard after, “that better?”

Shade just heard a low hiss of pain from Axel, “Yeah…that’s better” Axel replied before he stretched it out.

“He barely stood a chance….” Dillon said as he and Ziggy just looked on in shock.

“If we are gonna stand a chance against our stronger enemies we're gonna have to double down on getting better…” Ziggy though to himself.

“If he’s the best of you three you have no hope in tartarus at your current levels,” a new voice responds from behind them.

The two perked up before looking back and seeing a Pegasus hovering behind them, he had a jet black coat, with a silver and orange two tone mane, and looked to have a Cutie mark in the shape of two crossed swords, he was also wearing light black armour over his chest with his wings and head being in clear view.

“Who are you?” Dillon said to the pegasus with a brow raised.

“One of King Shade’s guards, but you can call me Rapid Shadows,” the pegasus responds looking at Dillon as he landed behind them.

“Well nice to meet you Rapid Shadows” Ziggy replied as Dillon just looked back to the arena.

“Same to you,” Rapid Shadows responds looking into the arena, “So which of your is next to fight my king?”

“Don’t know yet no one has been called down” Dillon responded.

“Well he did say only one of you would be fighting him,” Gil points out looking at Dillon, “So how he’s gonna test you and Ziggy is a good question.”

“True” Dillon admitted before saying, “Even then for whatever he’s gonna test us on were probably gonna get our shit rocked”.

“Language!” he overheard Axel say before he growled out, “What are you, my mom!?”.

“You really have little faith in yourself,” Shade responds as he walks up beside them, “now… I’m going to put this on you both. You can either face me, or someone else here… also Dillon your next either way.”

“Who would I be fighting if I don’t fight you?” Dillon asked.

“Well if he needs someone for you to gauge his abilities against I could face him, my king,” Rapid Shadows suggests as he looks at Dillon, “as long as he has some sort of belt that is.”

“I’m ok with either if im being honest” Dillon admitted, “also what do you mean by belt?”.

“Can you transform into a armoured suit?” Rapid Shadows carified.

“He means do you have a morpher,” Shade adds, “he’s a Kamen Rider he used a belt like I normally do.”

“Oh, yeah I do” Dillon replied as he took out his Morpher from his cloak.

“Do you want to try fighting him?” Shade asks looking between Dillon and Rapid Shadows.

“Sure I have nothing to lose other than the little confidence I have in my abilities, to begin with,” Dillon admitted before noticing everyone looking at him, “What?”.

“Do you not think that amounts to most of your problems?” Gil asks looking at Dillon.

Dillon went into deep thought before saying, “Maybe, I just don’t know how to deal with it”.

“You should probably fix that man,” Ziggy said in a concerned tone of voice as Dillon just waved it off.

“Eh, let’s just get this over with,” Dillon said blankly as he vaulted over the stands and down to the arena while Axel jumped up to the stands.

“Were really gonna have to get him to stop thinking like that” Axel commented as he looked to where Dillon was in the arena.

“I’ll try to hold back against him my king,” Rapid Shadows responds with a bow as he flys into the arean landing infront of Dillon, “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be” Dillon responded before flipping the switch on his Morpher and transforming into his suit before he pulled out both of his weapons.

“It doesn’t look that bad on you,” Rapid Shadows calmly states before holding a green object with a large pink handle on the side of it to the side of his head, bringing it to his waist a loud ping was heard and a belt formed behind it.

He then held a large blue rectangular object in his hand before pressing a small button on the top as a voice shouted out “Hurricane Ninja!” which was followed by a strange oriental style of music. After a couple of seconds, Rapid Shadow’s turned the object in his hand downwards before shouting “Henshin!” before placing the object into the object on his waist, the same voice as before shouting back “Gashatto!”

Rapid Shadows then reached down to the handle before flipping it open before the voice shouted, “Gachan! Level Up! Makimaki! Tatsumaki! Hurricane Ninja!” as a large gold and blue screen moved back towards him, and once it had past his figure was replaced by a strange armour.

The armour looked strange in design. It had hexagonal patterns on the sides of the torso and the tops of the arms, pointed pads on the sides of arms and a dark purple underneath that shows in the middle that cuts off when it gets to the boots two long strands of white hair hanging at the sides of his head.

Dillon took a deep breath before bringing up his nitro blast and keeping his sword at the ready before he and Rapid Shadows began to slowly circle around the ring the two keeping their attention on each other.

“Alright Dillon just stay focused you can do this” the boy muttered to himself before he saw two figures in armour that looked similar in design to that of Rapid Shadows jumped beside him each wielding a single sword, while Rapid Shadows drew two swords from his back holding them in his hands.

Rapid Shadows didn’t respond as he pointed one of his swords towards Dillon before the two figure that had appeared began to run towards Dillon.

“Yep Im gonna hate this!” Dillon said out loud as one of them swung towards him the boy blocking the blow before he saw the other behind him as he used a forcefield to block the other figures swing.

Dillon then turned his attention to the one he was blocking with his sword before he slid himself under the figure as he used the momentum to try and get as much distance as possible.

“These two are your opponents! If you beat them I’ll face you!” Rapid Shadows shouted over to Dillon as one of the two figures continued it’s pursuit.

“Alright guess were doing this” Dillon muttered to himself as rushed down to the figures, who seemed to move independently from eachother, with the second of them running to the side of him while the first continued to run towards Dillon bringing his sword down towards him.

Bringing up his sword again the two’s blades scraped against each other as sparks flew from them while Dillon got progressively closer to him before he brought up his other hand his claws protruding out before he clenched it into a fist and slammed it into the figure's stomach launching him back as he ducked under a swipe from the other one.

“You need to keep moving!” Rapid Shadows shouted over to Dilllon as he saw the figure he had struck stand back up running towards him from behind the figure who was infront of him, as the second figure leapt over both of them before swinging it’s sword towards Dillon’s back.

He felt the second figure's sword scrape against his back causing him to stumble forward before he was knocked back by the first figure as he used his sword to stop his momentum from knocking him out of the arena.

“Stay focused, stay focused…” Dillon muttered to himself before he heard the voice again, “Keep going”.

“Oh, not this again” Dillon groaned as he stood up as the voice continued to speak again, “You know I could help, you know”.

“How so, are you gonna make me go crazy again?” Dillon muttered in response.

“No that was mainly because you hit your head pretty hard” The voice replied.

Dillon shook his head in a sigh before saying, “What do I need to do?”.

“Just let me take control and everything will come naturally” the voice replied.

Dillon was just silent for a moment as he responded “Alright, do your thing”.

Once the boy said that his body began to writhe his hands and head twitching slightly for a moment before he stopped as two red glows could be seen from his mask before he hunkered down and slid his left foot forward and kept his sword to the front of him.

“Something changed…” Axel muttered.

“What do you mean Axel?” Ziggy asked as he looked up toward him confused.

“See that stance, Dillon has never used it when sparring with us back at the lake” Axel responded.

“Oh yeah your right ive never seen him do a stance like that” Ziggy replied.

They then saw the figures about to hit Dillon again only for him to grab its arm and flip him over onto the ground and before it could get back up slamming his sword into its head, once he did that he turned his attention to the second figure who was swinging its sword towards his head.

Dillon dodged the swing before reciprocating with his own as his blade clashed with the figures a loud clanging ringing out from each hit before Dillon jumped back a few feet to acess what he had to do.

“He’s faster than before…” Axel muttered to himself.

Once Dillon figured out his strategy he then rushed down to the second figure before reeling back his arm and throwing his sword like a javelin directly towards its side the figure dodged the blow before Dillon clenched his fist and swung it up and brought up a construct made of his forcefield and hitting it straight in the head launching up slightly.

Dillon taking the chance ran to the figure and grabbed it by the leg before using as much strength as he could to slam it to the ground the place he slammed it into was right where his sword was which was embedded in the floor causing the figure to be impaled by it.

“D-did he just?” Ziggy attempted to say only for him not to be able to get the words out before he looked up to Shade looking for an answer.

“I get a feeling there may be a tiebreaker after this one… and I assume you know what that means,” Shade responded his voice still sounding calm as he looked at the scene below.

“Probably…” Ziggy said in a mutter before they heard Dillon speak towards Rapid Shadows, “So do I fight you now?” as he grabbed his sword and ripped it out, as everyone in the stands noticed the inflection of his voice had changed.

“Why is he speaking like that?” Axel muttered as he looked intently towards the arena as Dillon just walked forward until he was directly across from Rapid Shadows.

“Are we sure your the same as the other one before you,” Rapid Shadows calmly states as he looks at Dillon, who only gave a shrug in response as he just looked up at him.

Rapid Shadows then slowly walked towards Dillon before suddenly jolting forwards the sword in his right hand swing upwards towards Dillon’s chin.

At the last moment, Dillon swung his sword up the blade hitting Rapid shadow’s sword only for the other blade to slice sideways across his chest causing the front of Dillon’s suit to let out sparks from where he was slashed the boy placed his hand on his chest before shaking his head, “Im getting sloppy, I need to do better”.

Dillon then tightened his grip on his sword before twisting the handle a low click could be heard from it before it extended out into pointed chains with flexible metal lining the middle of them that allowed complete free movement to which he had begun to swing from multiple directions the chains immediately launching towards Rapid Shadows who had jumped back dodging most of them but got nicked in the arm by the last one.

“Huh…forgot I had that implemented” Dillon muttered to himself.

“Are we sure your not copying my kings fighting style?” Rapid Shadows asks moving back towards Dillon as he threw what seemed to the shirukens towards Dillon.

“I'm sure, I remember implementing this a long time ago” Dillon replied as he used the chains to block the shurikens some passing the chains and slashing his arms which caused sparks to appear before he ducked down to dodge the last one only for it the graze his helmet as it left a scratch as well as a small crack in it.

Rapid Shadows didn’t slow down quickly bringing both of his swords downwards slashing into both of Dillon’s shoulders.

The boy just let out a grunt of pain as he stumbled back his arms shaking slightly before he swung the chains again, this time Rapid Shadows falling back out of the chains range.

“The same trick won’t work twice!” Rapid Shadows shouts back before he removed the object he had placed in his belt and placed it into a small holder at his side pressing a button on it before a voice shouted “Kimewaza! Hurricane Critical Strike!” He then started spinning his swords black clouds surrounded the blades as he ran forwards.

This was swiftly followed by the clouds moving forwards surrounding Dillon who glanced around before taking a breath, “ I can’t see…” he muttered before ripping off his helmet and right when he did he saw Rapid Shadows in front of him and taking his chance brought up his shield from below Rapid Shadows who was hit backward into the air.

Dillon then jumped up into the air and grasped onto the Rapid’s neck before he slammed him to the ground causing a plume of smoke to surround the two.

“Did he win?” Ziggy muttered to himself before the smoke cleared revealing Dillon who was on top of Rapid’s chest with his sword against it, the boy could be heard taking deep breaths.

“Okay… note to self. I need to learn to remain aware and not let my guard down,” Rapid Shadows reponds as they see his suit disappear scattering into an orange lights around him as they saw him on the floor, his armour having deep dents in them.

“H-holy crap, I won?” Dillon said as he stumbled back the boy still taking deep breaths before he leaned over with his hands on his knees his suit disappearing as he was back in his cloak.

“Yes by the skin of our teeth mind you” he heard the voice again before Dillon shook his head, “Oh shut up…”.

“You both doing okay?” Shade asks as he lands behind Dillon placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah just doing dandy, just need to catch my breath” Dillon replied with a thumbs up.

“I’ll be fine my king. Nothing but my pride… and armour is damaged,” Rapid Shadows responds with a nervous chuckle.

“Am I the only one surprised that I actually won that?” Dillon asked as he looked to the others, “Honestly I was expecting to get my ass whooped to next Tuesday…”.

“Im just surprised as you are, how did you do that!?” Ziggy yelled from the stands.

“I don’t know it just happened!” Dillon shouted back to him.

“Least you didn’t get your butt completely whooped” Axel commented.

“Thanks for the input, Axel….” Dillon replied before saying in a mutter“It feels weird to actually win a fight like this I don’t know how to place that feeling either” before he felt Shade’s hand rub the top of his head the boy looked up to see Shade smiling down to him.

Dillon smiled back in response before looking back around the stands before asking Shade, “So who’s going next since I finished the spar with Rapid?”.

“Im curious about that also!” They could hear Ziggy say from the stands.

Everyone just looked to Shade as they waited for him to answer on who was going next on the arena.

Shades eyes scanned the area around him as he saw Simon, Luna, Midnight, Logan and Alexis standing near the door leading into the stands, “Well there is one person we know is in here next.”

“And who is that?” He heard Axel asked before looking around the stands before turning his vision to Ziggy, “Oh”.

“Why did you say oh?” Ziggy asked in confusion.

“Because you are the one going next” Axel replied with a smirk much to his little brother's dismay.

“Guess I should go down there then, right?” Ziggy then asked prompting Axel to nod as he let out a groan before jumping down to the arena.

“But still… who is he facing off against?” Simon asked as he leaned over the edge of the stands, “I mean. It can’t be anyone competent, it should be someone on the same level as the comic relief!”

“Alexis. If you could,” Shade responds getting a nod from Alexis who span around and kicked Simon in the side of the head knocking him out, “thank you.”

“Always a pleasure!” Alexis shouts back waving to the group.

Dillon and Ziggy let out a snort in response to seeing that happen as they attempted to keep in a laugh.

Ziggy after a moment calmed down while Dillon continued to keep his laugh in, “Alright, who am I going against?”.

“Well… how confident are you feeling… ignoring Simon’s comments.” Shade asks looking at Ziggy with a curious look in his eyes.

“I would say it’s a bit of a middle ground Im not too confident but my confidence isn’t depressingly low” Ziggy admitted.

“There really isn’t many people around who could really give you fair fight,” Shade said as he rubbed the back of his head.

The area was silent for a moment before they heard Gil speak up, “I may not be much of a challenge but I could try.”

“Im not opposed to sparring with him,” Ziggy said in response.

“Alright, then it’s settled Gil and Ziggy are sparring with each other!” Axel shouted from the stands.

“Y-yeah…” Gil responded a nervous tone in his voice as he walked towards the stairs leading down towards the arena.

“I wish both of you good luck in this!” Axel shouted as Gil went out of view from the group.

As soon as Gil was out of sight of the others he took a single slow breath, “why did I just agree to do this. All I have is a barely usable ability to pull a rusted sword and spear from a portal and thats it. This is going to be embarressiing.”

He then continued walking towards the arena before pausing as he heard a voice from behind him shout, “Gil wait!” a feminine voice shouted to him as he turned to see a figure covered in a long red and blue hooded lab coat with the colours alternating red and blue diagonal lines running down it. She also wore a mask in the shape of a rabbit that covered her face ensuring nobody could tell who she was. “I work for Shade, and was looking into that card you found.”

Gil stopped looking at the strange masked figure a unsure look in his eyes, “What about that card?”

“I know you're busy… but please take this,” She responded, handing him back the card that Shade had found previously along with a strange gold and blue arm guard that had two openings in it, one on the top, the other the bottom. The design looked to strangely match the rest of Gil armour. “It’s a prototype but I’m still working on improvements, I was hoping to see if you could get it working.”

“Why would I be able to?”

“Well… my tests on the card show you emitting a similar energy wave to the card. Maybe something about you is linked to them. Who knows,” the figure responded before turning away, “If anything works ask your dad to tell me. I need to get some more work done on that weapon I was designing.”

“Yeah sure,” Gil responded unsure of what he had been told before looking to the arena then back to the figure to find her gone, the armguard still in his hands as he thought “linked to me? I don’t know what she is expecting but who knows.”

Gil then placed the arm guard on his right arm as a band wrapped around it almost creating a glove that covered his hand, with the actual ornament he was handed resting just above his wrist. He then turned looking back towards the arena before walking out towards it, “If this thing works, I will be surprised.”

As Gil walked out into the arena he saw that Shade and the others had moved into the stands along with finding Ziggy on the other side of the Arena stretching, after a moment Ziggy noticed him and stopped what he was doing, “I wish you good luck in this match Gil honestly I hope you win” Ziggy said towards him

“I’m going to need-” Gil began to say before he suddenly fell forwards gripping his chest, eyes clenched shut with a pained look on his face.

Ziggy flinched before stepping forward, “Gil what’s wrong?”

Gil, however, didn’t respond as they saw the object on his wrist glow in a faint golden hue, the glow slowly moving towards his chest where his hand was as he began to scream out in pain as he fell onto knees.

"Gil!" Ziggy shouted as he ran towards him stopping to his side "C'mon Gil talk to me, dude!"

“G-Get away quickly,” Gil said in pain, the golden light changing growing dark as black smoke began to surround him, his body faded behind it and every part of him looked to gain armour behind the smoke, in a style familiar to Ziggy.

“What the…” Dillon muttered as he looked intently towards Gil before he heard the voice again, “Knew he was that guy”.

“What do you mean you knew it, share with the class please,” Dillon asked before the voice sighed, “He Gilgamesh and from the looks of it the alter variant”.

“Alter?” Dillon muttered before turning to Shade, “Dad do you what's happening?”.

At first Shade did not respond as he looked at the figure gil had turned into as he muttered to himself, “Why does this look familiar.”

“Shade! There is a major magical surge below you just like when those quakes occurred, what's going on!” Harmony shouted to him.

Ziggy meanwhile just brought out his Axe with an unsure look on his face not knowing what to do at this moment.

“Oh… that's where I saw it,” Shade said to himself with a hint of urgency in his voice before quickly jumping to his feet looking at Luna, “keep everyone safe and get a barrier up around the arena now!”

“Why?” Luna asked, a look of confusion clear on her face.

“Because for the safety of everyone here he cannot be allowed to leave the arena at any cost!” Shade responded.

Once Dillon looked back at Gil his hair stood up on end as his hand reflexively went to grab his morpher.

“Dillon stay here,” Shade quickly said as he placed his hand infront of his body as his belt appeared around his waist.

“But” Dillon attempted to say before the voice pipped up again, “Just listen to him it’s for the best”.

“Fine…” Dillon said in a mutter before backing away from the railing.

“Just stay back no matter what happens,” Shade adds looking at Dillon closely again before speaking into Dillons mind, “I want a explanation from whoever you are once this is done.”

“Oh shit, you can actually hear me? the voice said in surprise.

“After this is dealt with,” Shade repeated before jumping over the edge of the standing into the arena transforming into his rider form as he left with Luna creating a barrier around the arena seconds later.

“At least someone other than you can actually hear me” Dillon heard the voice before Dillon just gave a grimace in response.

“Ive barely even talked to you and you annoy me already….” Dillon muttered before the voice replied with some added snark “Well get used to it it ain’t ending anytime soon”.

“Word of warning just don’t piss dad off you won’t like what happens,” Dillon said with a sigh.

As soon as Shade landed in the arena he sent his Chains out towards ZIggy wrapping them around the boys waist pulling him away from Gil.

"Dad what the hell's going on!?" Ziggy shouts as he looks back at Gil.

I’d say I know… but I don’t,” Shade admitted as Gil slowly rose to his feet removing his hand from his chest revealing a large hole in it with what looked to be a small card inside the gap of which was slowly being sealed shut.

“Every time I look at him I get a chill up my spine…” Ziggy said before swallowing down some spit.

Shade looked between Ziggy and Gil for a moment before saying, “Do you think you can move?”

Shade then looked back over at Gil’s form again seeing him constantly wince almost thrashing around in pain as he stood where he was as black holes appeared and shut quickly after as he seemed to be internally arguing with something.

“Y-yeah I can move, why does it look like Gil’s fighting back against something?” Ziggy asked as he stepped forward slightly.

“I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for that. But at a glance I can say it does look that way,” Shade responds looking back at Ziggy, “Ziggy… I don’t know if you can handle this so if you want to run you can.”

“N-no I’ll stay I want to help” Ziggy replied before adding “anything as long if I can be of use dad im not gonna let fear make me run away”.

“And what do you think he can do in this situation?” Shade asks keeping his eyes focused on Gil.

“Im not sure but I have a feeling if im touched once it’s over” Ziggy admitted as he looked back to Gil the boy’s hair standing on end like Dillon’s did prior, “Even then what do we do to snap him out of this state because he’s definitely gonna put up a fight if we try anything”.

The two then looked directly toward Gil before noticing that the hole in his chest was almost completely closed.

Shade looked to him for a second before sighing, “I’m gonna regret pulling a child into this,” as he placed a small toy car that looked like a taxi in Ziggy’s hand, “keep that on you somewhere you won’t lose it.”

“Got it” Ziggy replied as he placed the car in the pocket of his jacket before zipping it close so it wouldn’t fall out.

“We just need to hold him still and I should be able to stop him… I hope,” Shade responded.

Ziggy just took a breath before sliding his foot back placing himself at the ready, “Whenever your ready dad”.

Shade then quickly turned as his chains jolted forwards towards Gil as they saw that the hole in his chest had sealed up with the card no longer being visible, “Ziggy quick warning this is going to feel and look weird.”

Before Ziggy could respond to Shade he flicked a metal band on his wrist as a pulse of energy moved through everyone as everyone in the stands except Simon seemed to slow to a crawl.

“Yeah, that feels funny,” Ziggy said as shook his head in an attempt to get rid of that feeling.

Dillon had stumbled back in an attempt to get away but only for him to fall back into someone having his head slowly fall between their breasts.

But once he looked up to see who it was he saw that it was Luna who was just focused on the arena before a blush slowly appeared on his face as he covered it out in embarrassment, “Oh god” he mumbled out.

“Oh get over it ya baby a lot of people would kill to be in the position you're in,” the voice said in a dismissive tone.

“Easy for you to say this isn’t happening to you…” Dillon replied.

“Technically it is but that's neither here nor there” the voice replied

“Whatever…” Dillon grumbled.

“Wait, why am I unaffected?” Ziggy then asked as he noticed everyone else other than Simon was slowed.

“You can thank the toy car I gave you, it made it so you won’t be effected by slowdown,” Shade responded before the chains began to surround the slowed Gil.

“Huh, so I assume he’s affected by it too?” Ziggy asked, pointing towards Gil.

Luckily he is,” Shade responded, before continuing to say, “Just be ready to act as soon as I tell you too.”

“Alright” Ziggy replied with a nod as he readied himself once more.

Shade just nodded back before he grabbed the chains before he pulled on it and it quickly propelled him forwards towards Gil, his hands slowly rising as the black mist began to slowly form with black marks flicking inside it. As this was happening Shade inched closer to Gil as he saw tears in his eyes behind them smoke.

“Gil! Hold on!” Shade shouted as he reached forwards his hand aiming towards where the hole had been on his chest before his hand stuck it Gil’s body falling forwards before the smoke began to shift revealing a black mud-like substance behind it that covered Gil’s body. The area near the card still reveals Gil’s skin underneath it.

As Shade’s fist struck it as a pained scream was heard, the sound being a mix of both Gil’s and a distorted one as the mud-like substance began to shift ever so slightly.

“I generally hope this works,” Shade added as a red eye shaped symbol formed in the air above Gils chest before moving forwards towards Gil, landing on his chest as the mud-like substance began to recede more of Gil’s skin appearing as it did.

Ziggy looked ready to do whatever Shade needed him to do and continued to wait in place for Shade’s signal, “Alright just tell me when dad!”.

“When you see a clear signal start attacking the thing I'm holding, make sure to do as much damage as you can!” Shade shouted back as Ziggy saw a small form beginning to move backwards and Shade’s chains kept pulling the form forwards and the distorted screams grew louder, as Shade forced his body deeper into Gil’s form as a bulge began to form from his back which slowly got larger before seeming to begin to tear open.

As soon as the bulge tore open Ziggy saw Shades armour force its way completley through the figureas it lurched forwards and the chains wrapped around the arms and legs of the figure as loud snaps were heard followed by just the distorted screams, as the normal screams went silent.

Ziggy watching tightly grasped his Axe with both hands as he continued to look waiting for the right moment before rushing forward his axe scraping against the floor with sparks flying behind it before he jumped up and teleported above the figure head and a slammed his axe right down the center as he ripped it out and continued to swing into it’s head.

The figure just glanced at Ziggy in silence with its cold lifeless eyes as the boy was left unnerved by it, “What are you?” he then whispered before he attempted to hit it again only for a black portal to appear near his face as a weapon launched forward out of it prompting him to jump out of the way.

When he did that more black portals opened up and shot weapons at him prompting him to yell “Holy crap!” as he ran across the arena in an effort to dodge them and for the last one Ziggy wasn’t able to move out of the way so used his teleport to dodge it.

Once he reappeared he grasped his ax with two hands again before launching it towards the figure as it was embedded through its chest.

Ziggy teleported back to the figure as he attempted to rip that axe out to attack again but it wouldn’t budge it was like the figure was preventing him from getting it back.

It was then that Ziggy saw multiple chains wrap themselves around his waist before he was quickly pulled backwards as Ziggy saw multiple weapons pierce the figure where he was been only seconds before.

Ziggy had patted himself down to check if he had any injuries before letting out a sigh in relief, “Thanks for preventing me from becoming swiss cheese dad”.

“I’d say your welcome… but,” Shade began to say before he looked to the black figure to see Ziggy’s axe still wedged in his neck as the figure looked to ignore it, “You’re kinda missing your weapon.”

“I attempted to rip it out but the thing wouldn’t let go of it” Ziggy pointed out as he glanced back the figure.

“I’d say use another weapon, but get Gil out of here,” Shade responded as Ziggy saw Gil near the entrance to the arena.

“Alright” Ziggy replied with a nod as he dashed toward Gil’s unconscious form and once he reached him he picked him up and hung his arm over his shoulder.

“Alright buddy let's go,” Ziggy muttered as he and Gil slowly walked into the tunnel out of the Arena before Shade heard Ziggy shout, “Kick his ass dad!” before saying out loud, “Your gonna be ok Gil don’t worry” before the two went out of sight.

As soon as the duo was out of sight Shade slowly looked to the dark figure, “If you can hear me… You are done,” Shade responded malice clearly in his voice, as he held his hand out to the side flames surrounding his hands as time slowly began to return to normal and the Damned Shade Eyecon appeared in his hand.

He then held it out before clicking the Eyecon in before a demonic voice shouted out, “stand with sin!” before he placed it in his driver, and two burning portals appeared around him and a crimson liquid filled the land around him forming a large crimson eye by his feet before a bright red light burst upwards into the sky around his body and a demonic voice shouted out “Kaigan! Damned Shade! Honō o aruite kudasai! Satan no sanran!”

As soon as the light faded the group looked down to see Shade to find his form now consisted of a red and black jacket that had silver and white flames constantly burning over its arms and legs which seemed to constantly shift in the wind. Chains still adorned his arms and legs as they wrapped around them, along with a single red demonlike wing on his back and a mask covering over his face which was completely red with white eyes and a sadistic grin on it with two small horns appearing on the top of the mask.

“Holy crap!” Dillon said shocked tone as he and the others watched from the stands, “Yeah it’s not gonna end well for the other guy” the voice commented.

“No duh dad’s gonna kick his ass and it’s probably not gonna be pleasant….” Dillon then replied.

“Lets hope he doesn’t make this too slow then” the voice then responded as Dillon and the others saw Ziggy come up with Gil before placing him down gently.

“What’d I miss?” Ziggy then asked as he looked at the others.

“If you look out to where you were you’ll be able to guess” Alexis replies a nervous look on her face.

Ziggy looked to the arena before finally feeling heat on his face causing to him to recoil back as he saw Shade along with the figure who was on fire, the distorted screams echoing throughout the arena before his eyes went wide, “What…what happened?”.

“When you left the arena with Gil dad transformed into that and from the looks of it he’s burning that thing to death” Dillon replied before covering his face with his left hand feeling a gust of heat hitting it before attempting to move from Luna’s lap only for Luna to pull him back his head falling back between her breasts again.
Dillons face heated up again as he let out a groan as just smirked at his brothers predicament before turning his attention back to the arena and shouting, “Make him pay dad!” while Dillon just remained silent in the position he was in.

Shade did not respond to him either not either not hearing or ignoring him his hand grabbing one of the chains on his suit as they shot out in every direction many of them piercing though the burning figures body black blood covering the chains as they left its body before twisting back going back into another body part as blood covered the floor around them, the screams getting louder and louder.

“Your getting blood everywhere. I’m sure you want it back,” Shade said his voice distorted, sending chills down the spines of everyone in the area as the blood on the chains and the floor began to rise into the air lifting the figure with them, it’s arms and legs beginning to swell up while the blood in the air began to reform into multiple long spears hoving over it’s form which suddenly fell piercing though the figures body causing more blood to fall from it’s body.

The chains then suddenly retracted quickly pulling the figure back towards Shade who’s hand was held open as the figures chest collided with Shades waiting hand which almost seemed to piece though it coming out the other side of it’s body, the figures blood covering Shade’s arm the blood covering it beginning to burn up into a white flame as he pulled his fist back a hole being left as blood poured from the open hole, and new spears piercing it’s body.

Ziggy seeing this just could’nt say anything he couldn’t think of anything to say after seeing that display of cruelty from Shade as he could only cover his mouth while Dillon just looked on with wide eyes in shock.

“Holy shit…” Dillon heard the voice before he then nodded in response.

"why is dad acting like that?" Ziggy muttered under his breath as he was unnerved from what he was witnessing.

"I don't know" Dillon replied as he overheard him say that fear clear his voice.

“Did he tell you about what he did to the cult when he found their leader before?” Luna asked, both Dillon and Ziggy.

The two just shook their head in response, “We were only told the slight gist of it never really went into detail about it” Dillon then responded.

“The last time he used this form he used those spears to leave someone pinned to the wall in a collapsing hidden bunker under a mountain with him only being able to hear,” Luna responded. “You have seen what they did to everyone under the town, and I assume know of their intentions for them.” Luna explained.

They just gave her a nod, not saying anything as they looked back down to the arena, as they saw that the figure was trying to crawl away from Shade who looked to have thrown him to the floor a trail of blood being left in the figures wake as portals kept launching weapons at Shade who used to chains to stop them in midair, each weapon being held in the air by the chain as he walked towards the figure.

“You want to hurt my family, well try taking on someone your own fucking size!” Shade shouted in anger as spears of blood impaled the figure’s hands before floating back up as the figure kept crawling only for the spear to piece another limb.

“I forgot how terrifying it is to be on that side of him,” a voice responded from beside Ziggy as they turned to see a hooded figure looking wearing a rabbit mask beside them seemingly shaking at the sight, almost in excitement.

“Who in the heck are you?” Dillon and Ziggy said with their brows raised as they looked the figure up and down.

“A… ‘follower’ and employee of Lord Shade,” the figure responded before shouted, “my lord! Catch!” as she threw something towards him which he caught.

As Shade looked at what he had been thrown he foud that it almost looked like a long gun of some kind. It had large barrel on the front with a holographic screen forming on the back. It was black and red in colour and seemed to have three Eyecon shaped holes along the surface in a similar style to his other guitar-shaped sword.

“Huh…hardcore” the voice commented, “Took the words right out my mouth” Dillon replied with a nod.

“That looks so cool!” Ziggy said outloud as Axel who was in the back just nodded in agreement.

“Let’s see what this does,” Shade responded flicking a small button before aiming down at the figure and firing once as a scream of pain was heard as they saw the figure's legs reduced to two stumps as a pool of fresh blood began to pour from the figure’s legs before the flames from Shades armour sealed them shut the screams continuing as they group saw burns covering the figures entire body.

Shade seemed to smirk as the figures tried to crawl away from Shade as more portals formed around Shade each launching a bladed weapon at Shade as his chains grabbed each of them from the air like before, only for this time of the chains to bring two of the swords down as each were stabbed into the figure's arms pinning it in place before his gun disappeared in black flames.

Shade then reached down grabbing the handle of one the blades in the figures arm before forcefully pulling it back out a loud scream being heard again from the figure as Shade turned the sword in his hand. The weapon in question had gold and blue carving spiraling around the handle while the blade itself almost looked like a drill as the blade spun around.

As soon as his hand gripped the handle tightly a demonic voice was heard echoing around them, “Weapon identified, Accessing Shade link,” as the blade was surrounded by black and red flames, as the blades colours changed from now matching Shade’s own before the voice spoke up “Shade enhancements accepted, new fighting style uploaded for analysis.”

As soon as the flames disappeared Shade turned back towards the figure the strange sword in his hand as the blades begin to begin to rotate as he approached the figure as it tried to frantically free its pinned arm, a fearful look on its face.

“Huh he took his weapon didn’t know that could happen or that he could do that” the voice spoke again.

“You know what that weapon is?” Dillon asked the voice who immediately replied, “It’s Gilgamesh’s weapon if I remember correctly it’s called Ea it’s a strong blade from what I remember”.

“Ea….huh” Dillon muttered to himself Luna overhearing him as she looked down towards him.

“Whats a Ea?” Luna asked as she rubbed Dillon’s head with her hand.

“It’s that sword that dad’s holding and it’s original owner is called Gilgamesh and from I remember it’s pretty powerful too” she heard him reply before they heard a low groan coming from Gil.

Ziggy turned to Gil before crouching down as he asked, “How are you holding up buddy?”

“I feel like someone tried to kill me,” Gil responded as he began to shake, “what’s going on?”

“Dad’s currently massacring what looks like a dark version of you down in the arena” Ziggy replied as he pointed behind himself.

“...So like that time where a weird woman almost killed me with a chained dagger?” Gil asked as he shakily walked towards them only to fall forwards.

Ziggy catches him and managed to pull him back on his feet before they heard Dillon ask “Someone tried to kill you with a chained dagger?”.

“Huh must have been attacked by Medusa then” the voice piped up before Dillon immediately replied to it, “Ok your gonna have to explain those people to me later the more you mention the more confused I get”.

“You’ll get used to it” the voice nonchalantly replied before everyone turned their attention back to the arena as Ziggy walked Gil to the railing, as a card fell out of his pocket, which he saw looking down towards it, as he knelt down on shaky legs picking it back up, turning it in his hand as he examined it before stumbling towards the railing and looking down to the arena.

As the group looked back to Shade they saw the dark figure being lifted by his arms, it’s body hanging limply, small twitches being seen from it’s form. On a closer look towards the end of it’s arms they could see that both of its hands had been cut off to the wrist, the wound having been sealed by flames like its legs had been.

The figure was then smalled to the ground by the chains holding him up multiple loud snapping sounds being heard from it’s body as it hit the floor, as the figures pained screams were heard and fresh pool of blood formed below the figure as it surrounded it’s body..

Shade then looked down to the figure kicking it onto it’s front as it looked at Shade with fearful eyes, as it saw the weapon Shade has taken disappear in flames the gun from before reappearing in his hands as Shade’s chains seemed to pierce through the what remained of it’s arms and legs again lifing it from the ground, the figure weakly lifting it’s head looking at Gil and Ziggy as it looked to try and speak, it’s lips moving slowly.

It Axel him a moment but he kept replaying it in his head before connection the dots and realizing it said “Spare me….” causing him to suddenly stand, his eyes widened in shock as he muttered “What the hell?”.

The boys then saw Shade begin to raise his gun into the air pointing it towards the figure, as he began to place something into the slots on it, the figure weakly shaking it head, it’s eyes wide focused on Axel, at it mouthed the words “help me.”

Axel face turned to one of shock to conflicted as he sat there in silence not knowing what to do and after just shaking his head he stood up and slammed his hand on the railing, “Shade stop!” he shouted his voice echoing in the arena.

Shade then paused his hand resting against the final space on the gun his head slowly turning towards Axel, as he didn’t say a word.

“You don’t have to kill it, if anything we can make use of it” Axel stated towards Shade.

“How do you intend ondoing that,” Shade’s voice respond, sounding more distorted than normal, as they saw the figures eyes shut as it shook it’s head. “How could we even use it?”

“You could have it pledge loyalty to you and given the abilities it’s showed earlier it could be useful in battle” Axel replied.

“So what, you want it to become like you,” Shade responds looking back to the figure

“You could turn it into a new breed of timberwolf” Dillon commented before Ziggy added, “Or a new creature entirely that’s up to you though”.

“I could facilitate that if you you desire. But it would need to be cared for like a newborn,” Harmony stated to Shade.

Shade didn’t respond to the boys as he lowered his gun again the figure being brought down to Shade’s eye level, its eyes remaining shut tightly, “I’ll leave the changes to your discretion Harmony.”

Shade then plunged his hand forward into the figure's chest as a pained gasp was heard from it as it went limp and Shade pulled his hand back as a small card being held in his hand, as the figure was released from the chains and dropped to the ground, lying there motionless, as Shade canceled this transformation and walked away.

“Did he…kill it?” Dillon muttered out in shock the other was completely silent as they looked towards its limp body before they noticed that it began to change.

Its body in specific parts such as the arms and legs began to grow back the figure thrashed around slightly pained on its face as they slowly formed back to how they were before the figure let out a ragged breath once the pain went away and when it did the forearms and hands began to grow fur as well as the legs.

The hands themselves were slowly drawing out claws as well as their feet and the figure's legs turning into a more digitigrade structure.

While its teeth were growing longer and sharper with fangs that began to point out from its mouth a look of discomfort could be seen while this happened but soon disappeared once they stopped growing as its hair lengthened down to its neck having a messy appearance like Dillon’s hair.

The group then saw something growing from under its hair as it slowly began to push out from the figures head the look of discomfort returning before a sudden pop sound could be heard and a pair of ears could be seen on top of its head and tail could be seen behind it, both parts seemingly appearing at the same time.

The fur then began to spread to the figure's chest where Shade ripped the card from which then began to form his mark which looked to be engraved into it until the changes slowly stopped with small patches of fur being changed to an amber colour.

The others don’t say anything as they see this happen but the boy’s being curious decided to go down to the arena, as Luna dropped the barrier surrounding it, vaulting over the railing to get a closer look and once they did Dillon and Ziggy just crouched down next to it, “It is done changing now?” Dillon asks curiously.

“Looks like it, wonder when it’s gonna wake up though” Ziggy replied as Axel just walked up from behind them looking at the figure in silence.

Axel continued to look at the figure before turning to Shade and asking, “What was that thing you ripped out of it?”.

“It looks to be some kind of card, it has the image of an archer on it from what I can say… thinking about it when I dealt with something similar before it dropped a cart with a chariot on it,” Shade responds looking at the card in his hand.

“That’s definitely interesting to hear but why was it inside it is my question” Ziggy commented.

“Any ideas from you mysterious voice?” Dillon asked the voice.

“Even my knowledge is limited and even then it’s been a while” the voice replied.

“Great….” Dillon replied in a mutter before standing back up and asking Shade, “So what do we do now, it’s gonna be a bit until it wakes up”.

“I assume after that we can count Ziggy’s duel as cancelled,” Shade responds walking over to where Ziggy’s axe had landed, before picking it up and finding a long deep crack going through the entire blade.

Ziggy just looked to Shade before seeing his Axe as a look of shock, “I-is that a crack in my axe….” he asked pointed towards it with a shaky hand.

“Yikes looks like a big one too” Dillon commented as he walked up and just closely looked at it.

Ziggy just looked down to the ground while grasping his head, “It’s gonna take so long to fix that thing….”.

“You know how to maintain and fix that thing?” Shade questioned looking at the weapon as he ran his finger down the crack, “that's a lot more than just cosmetic damage.”

“Yeah I do, but it usually takes a while which basically left me with the choice to only run when conflict came last time that thing broke it took me a really long time to fix” Ziggy admitted.

“When did it last break on you and was it as bad as this time?” Shade asks again.

“If i'm being honest it looked a bit worse since it looked like it was on the verge of snapping in half last time” Ziggy responded.

“What do you need to repair it then?”

“If there's any durable steel here, I can use that to repair it” Ziggy answered.

“You’ve seen the town do you really think I have steel here?”

“Fair enough, guess I’ll just wrap this up so it doesn’t fall apart on me til get some or find something that can repair it” Ziggy replied.

Shade paused looking at the axe again, “actually there may be one person who could have… even if I don’t entirely trust her.”

“If it means I can get this thing fixed I’ll take that chance” Ziggy replied.

“I take it that the person you're talking about isn’t someone you particularly like?” Dillon asked Shade.

“I dislike said person enough to use what you saw a minute ago on them,” Shade responds, “so you make that decision.”

“Oh, yikes…” Dillon muttered in response as Ziggy just looked at his axe before saying, “I’ll do it, if it means I won’t be without my weapon I’ll take it”.

“She should be around here I mean she did throw that weapon down to me earlier,” Shade responded as Ziggy saw a shadow loom over him.

“If I had the old schematics for it I could replicate the technology, maybe create more variants and upgrade that broken thing,” a familiar voice said from behind the boys.

Dillon and Ziggy flinched before looking back to see the person from before, “Oh it’s the person from before” Dillon commented.

“I mean I think I still have it before I got displaced I kinda swiped it lemme check if it’s still in here” Ziggy said before taking off his leather jacket and putting his hand in a secret pocket his hand rummaging around in it for few seconds before he took out a folded piece of paper before unfolding it and taking a good look at it and nodding, “Yep this is it”.

“How did you?...” Dillon attempted to ask only for Ziggy to immediately say, “You’d be surprised about how much stuff I can hide in this jacket”.

“Noted…” Dillon then replied before Ziggy showed the schematic to the person and Shade.

“Well… that explains why it broke. Using steel isn’t going to cut it for anything beyond a display piece,” the figure responds, “I think if I gathered some things from my lab I could repair it, but without the schematics for your suits there is no guarantee any upgrades will be effective.”

“I'm just content with my axe being repaired if we somehow find the schematics for those I’ll try to let you know” Ziggy responded.

“In that case, if you wait here I can gather the things I need and do most of the repairs in the stands,” the figure responds before looking at Shade, “With your blessing of course my lord.”

Shade simply looked down at the figure as he seemed to shake as he looked at her, before saying, “See that it is done for them.”

“Of course! It would be my pleasure to fulfill any of your desires,” the figure responded before running off.

“She seems….interesting” Dillon commented before the voice said, “More like strange and I'm being generous when I say that..”.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Shade responds as he walks back towards the stands.

Dillon just followed behind him while Axel and Ziggy just stayed behind with the still unconscious figure.