Chapter 39: Rematch

In a dimly lit room somewhere far away sat three men. They each sat at their own station analyzing data shown in monitors in front of them. Of the three one was watching an overhead satellite live feed of Joel, Lynn, and Ryan as they traveled up the rocky volcano path. Next to the video showed a status screen displaying information regarding nano creatures that relayed information from a host's bloodstream.

"General. What is our hourly status report?" commanded a voice from the back of the room.

The man turned away from his computer and explained, "My lord, the demons have not engaged in any form of combat yet, but it appears that they are on their way to fight another of their kind this very moment."

The shadow shook his head and said, "Do something to stop it."

"I have already dispatched two of our special agents to the location." The general informed his commander, "They should arrive just in time to stop them."

"This is good, Dwayne. Let us hope for success." The shadow said, "Should our men succeed it should prevent another catastrophe from almost occurring as it almost did in Traquo with that huge flare in the sky." He put his hand down on the computer console, "I trust that we have collected enough data on the two demons to know just what they are capable of?"

Dwayne began typing at his computer, bringing up data showing each attack form that Joel and Ryan had displayed at Traquo, and he said, "After everything those two had done I would hope on my own life that its all they're capable of. Anything more could be intolerable to our staff and technology."

"Yes, you're right." The man agreed, "We have the technology to withstand their firepower and to negate their powers completely. As long as the fire demon does not get any stronger we will have him beat, and after those two go down we should have no trouble dealing with all the other demons in the world like them."

Lynn let out several itchy sneezes as she followed her Guardian friends up the volcano path. She rubbed her nose with her hand several times before shaking her head and feeling a little worn.

"Feeling okay, Miss Lynn?" Joel asked her.

She nodded and said, "Yeah. I just had a little chill was all."

Joel looked up and around them as they walked up the trail. He put a hand out into the air and felt it himself, but he gained nothing from trying.

"Give it up, man. You'll never feel it the way she does." Ryan reminded Joel.

"Oh, right." Joel said as he brought his hand back down to his side, "Lynn, I won't argue with you, but you're positive you want to go with us this time?"

Lynn nodded and said, "Of course! You didn't let me come the last time. I can fight, too, y'know."

"Yeah, but…" Joel mumbled.

Ryan pointed to the summit, "It's inside a volcano!" He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Volcanoe equals really hot. Really hot equals little human goes melty."

"Look, brainiac. I've gotten in some tough situations with you guys before, but we find some way to overcome it." Lynn argued, "You'll find a way to take me in there with you safely!"

"Yes, ma'am." The two Guardians said in unison.

Ryan paused in his footsteps for a moment to look up at the sky. He stared deep into the atmosphere and through space in that moment as if he were watching something, but then, as if nothing ever occurred, Ryan looked back down and continued up the path.

"Something bothering you?" Joel asked his friend.

Ryan shook his head, and in a smug tone he replied, "Why should it?"

Lynn stopped not too far ahead and pointed to a figure ahead of the group. It was a monster that had climbed the area before them and set up its territory. It made itself out as a fierce creature by letting out long, piercing howls and snarls.

"Set phasers to stun." Lynn commented.

"Deep fat fry." Ryan quickly noted as he and Joel raised their hands and began shooting the creature out of the way.

As the bright flashes of energy shot the monster it jumped and rolled about, yapping and squealing like a helpless whelp. Soon it tumbled down and ran away, revealing further path up the volcano.

"Shall we continue?" Joel asked his friends.

"After you, man." Ryan said, waving his hand forward.

The three began traveling up the path again, but not much farther ahead did they find another monster. It also howled and screeched at the trio as soon as it spotted them. The monster swept its feet along the ground as it prepared to charge at them with its large horn, and within a moment's notice it began making its first several strides towards the travelers.

As the monster neared the three, Joel positioned his feet firmly on the ground and pulled his right arm back with his hand balled up in a fist. When the creature came into range, Joel shot his fist at the monster, but stopped right before the horn and only gave it a simple flick. This stopped the monster in its tracks, causing it to look down at Joel with a hint of curiosity. Soon after it received a flick, the horn cracked and fell from the monster's face, causing it to run away crying.

"Eat your bran flakes." Ryan called out to the monster.

Lynn crossed her arms and asked, "Have you noticed how we're encountering lots of monsters now that we're nearing the summit?"

Joel stood silent between his friends. He closed his eyes in an almost meditative state as his friends conversed.

"Dude, that's why they call them monsters." Ryan told Lynn.

Another monster appeared in front of them. This monster appeared almost clueless and looked around frantically to discover where it was. It let out a sudden short howl of confusion as it looked into space with a near-cross eyed expression on its face. The three stood there and looked back at it silently, waiting for it to act.

"Oh, come on. Just attack us already." Lynn called out to it as she tapped her feet.

The creature tilted its head with a squawk at Lynn, but it soon was jumping about in a terrorized panic as soon as a small heated poker stabbed the side of its leg. The cowardly monster began to cry as its side was pained, but rather than charge at the trio for an attack it ran away through the rocky terrain.

"It must have been watching its two buddies and knew what was coming." Ryan said as he scratched his head.

Soon one more monster appeared to hop out from behind a large rock on the side of the path. This large dinosaur-like monster howled as fiercely as the first two monsters, but rather than snarling at the trio the monster yelled at the rock it appeared from.

Lynn spent no time hesitating on the matter and immediately stepped up with one of her blade-extended rings and threw it towards the creature. The spinning blades slashed through the monster's body, cutting it in half through its torso. The upper half of the body fell down and crashed over the large stone, causing it to crumble into hundreds of pebbles.

"That was a bit much, wasn't it, Miss Lynn?" Joel asked his friend.

"Yeah, man. At least we didn't kill the other two." Ryan told Lynn.

Lynn shrugged and walked ahead into the dust cloud, saying, "Who cares. Those were enough distractions for me."

However, as the cloud of dust cleared they were forced to pause their walk once more as they found two oddly dressed men standing in the middle of the rubble. One wore white make up over his body and had oddly colored rainbow hair. His clothing consisted of even stranger puffy polka dot pants and gloves. The man who stood next to the clownish man had deep dark skin with flat top hair. He wore a brown furry toga draped over his body and held a long thick club over his shoulder. Both wore blue metallic armor over their bare skin and under their clothing.

"More, more monsters, Carlos! More!" the clownish man exclaimed in a jittery voice.

"Carlos ain't got no more monsters." The other man called Carlos told his partner.

"W,w,what do you mean? Dwayne's not gonna be happy if we can't stop the d,d,demons!" the clown stuttered.

Carlos lifted his club and swung it shortly over the clown's head and said, "Ungh, Carlos captain, so Captain Carlos say clown Joshua get next monster!"

The two fell silent as a gust of air blew by them, lifting the dust and dirt from the air. They both looked to their side and noticed the pile of pebbles which remained from the large stone as well as the upper half of the last monster that lay on top of it all. They then looked up and noticed Joel, Lynn, and Ryan watching them, and Ryan waved at them as soon as he had the chance.

"Umm, captain, what were our instructions for if we were caught?" Joshua asked his senior.

Carlos grunted twice and exclaimed, "What you think dumb dumb brain!" He leaped forward with his club, eyes filling with primal rage, and said, "Demon fiends, you no go further! Captain Carlos of Brave Corp stop from causing catastrophe!"

"Catastrophe? What do you mean by that?" Lynn asked them.

Joshua leaped forward to Carlos's side and explained, "I am Joshua the Jester of Brave Corp! My senior and I have come to prevent your fight. We will not allow another burst of energy occur like the flame one put out in Traquo!"

"Me?" Joel asked, "You mean how I used my Star Fire attack to destroy Junicon?"

"Ungh, that right! Big fire almost destroy planet." Carlos told him, "If hit planet we all dead!"

Joel scratched his head and said, "Oh, well if that's true then I won't do the special attack ever again if it makes you happy."

Carlos shook his head and said, "That not enough."

"Yes, yes that's right!" Joshua continued, "We have reports that you demons are about to engage in another battle with another demon. That we cannot allow. So our leader has sent us to put an end to you both!"

Lynn looked over the two characters from top to bottom and said, "Oh please. How can two goons like you stop us?"

"Hey, that should have been my line!" Ryan complained in an irritated tone.

"Boss man of Carlos suit soldiers up in resistant metal. It stop bad demons from hurting Captain Carlos." Carlos told them.

"Yes, yes! Just as you saw in Traquo, we, too, have technology advanced enough to stop your super heated energy attacks!" Joshua exclaimed in excitement.

Joel nodded and said, "I see. So that's what's with the weird look you two have." He raised his arm and began charging a flaming energy ball in front of him and said, "Care to have me test that for you?"

Immediately the two Brave Corp members turned blue and became weak in the knees when they heard the Guardian's request. As Joel shot his energized fireball the oddly dressed men turned around and jumped for cover behind one of the many boulders sitting quietly on the path. However, their cover was quickly blown away by the force of the oncoming ball.

"Oh come on. I thought you guys were supposed to be strong." Joel called out to them with a frown.

The Brave Corp soldiers' eyes were wide open and shedding tears as dust and bits of rock flew through the air around them. Joshua slowly turned his head towards Joel and slowly squeezed a horn in his direction.

Joel waved his hand at them and said, "Just stay still for a sec so I can see how well that armor of yours works."

The Guardian's hand began to glow again before firing off another series of fireballs at the Brave Corp. As soon as they were fired the two characters were back on their feet and fleeing again. Joshua honked his horn rapidly in the air as he ran alongside his captain while Carlos simply ran in his shared state of panic. They ran from cover to cover to keep away from Joel's attack, but no matter where they ran to they were left in the middle of crumbling rocks and clouds of dust.

"Wow. For a mighty group of soldiers sent out to assassinate us, they sure don't have the wits to match their objective." Ryan commented as he rested his arms up behind his head.

"As if we don't have enough problems already." Lynn grumbled. He shook her fists at the men and yelled, "Come on guys, we need to go already! Just let him hit you!"

"Are you kidding!?" Joshua cried.

"Yeah! That be like forfeit on life!" Carlos cried with him.

"And you didn't think that hunting two Guardians was forfeit on your lives in the first place? Give me a break!" Lynn yelled at them.

The two men paused for a moment and looked between each other.

"She does have a point." The clown said.

"Oog, yeah, ugh, idea from puppet girl." responded the caveman.

"We run then?" asked the clown.

"Carlos go faster than clown!" Carlos grunted as he started sprinting down the path away from the three.

"But, sir, wait!" Joshua cried as he followed on hands and feet.

"N,no! Carlos quit!" Carlos called out far down the mountain.

Joel, Ryan, and Lynn watched the two characters fade off into little stars as they retreated down the path from the danger presented by attempting to face the two Guardians, and soon enough they were turned back to their planned destination.

"Puppet girl, eh?" Ryan asked, scratching his chin.

"Dorks. That's all." Lynn responded.

As the top of the volcano came into sight they were greeted by a strong tremor in the earth. They each stood their ground with all their might in order to not fall and tumble into the volcanic crater. A number of small jets of lava spewed up from within the volcano and quickly cooled down into a series of steps leading down inside. It was clear to them that their enemy was expecting their arrival.

"Alright, this is it. Ro-Ten awaits us down inside." Joel told his friends. He kneeled down beside Lynn and said, "It won't be safe for you to go down the way you are now, Miss Lynn."

"So what? Just let me burn down there! I'm burning for a piece of the real action!" Lynn exclaimed.

Joel placed his hand over Lynn's forehead and said, "Take it easy and calm down."

"It looks like you have a plan!" Ryan said as he observed Joel.

Joel nodded and said, "I'm infusing Lynn with a temporary heat shield with my powers. This way her body can withstand the super heated environment down there." He stood up and scratched his head and said, "Though the number of deadly gases is something she'll have to deal with alone."

Lynn bounced about in satisfactory and exclaimed, "Who cares about that! Let's kick some bad guy butt!"

Ryan grinned and patted Lynn on the head, saying, "Cute kid. She'd build a fine Guardian."

Joel took his first step down the volcano and said, "If being a Guardian was a freely optional occupation we'd have a lot more trouble on our hands than we do already."

"Good point." Ryan said as he followed.

They looked down the volcano interior as they made their descent. Everything about it glowed with burning hot embers, but there were also neatly cooled down streams of magma set up for easy platform access throughout the lair. Further inside the volcano these streams of cooled magma made the interior look more like a shiny black obsidian fortress with free burning lanterns inside.

"You've done some nice things to decorate, Ro-Ten, but where are you so we can put an end to this?" Joel called out.

At the sound of Joel's voice, Ro-Ten's voice responded, "I was so bored by your pety little interactions on the surface that I almost forgot you were coming, Zareon!" The area around them began to shutter and magically shift around in a metamorphasis as Ro-Ten announced, "Allow me to end your waiting, as you have ended mine."

The trio watched cautiously as everything around them shifted, and Ryan exclaimed, "Be careful! He can control everything down here, so expect the ground to change a lot!"

"Very perseptive, Susalini." Ro-Ten said as he appeared before the three.

When the surroundings stopped shifting around the area looked like a large solid arena underneath the spout of the volcano, which was the only source of natural sunlight in the whole room. Ro-Ten appeared sitting in a throne constructed from the shifting obsidian in the volcano. There he sat with his eyes locked on Joel and no one else. His long, jagged red hair glowed and stretched out onto the floor like flowing lava itself.

"So Zareon. The last time we fought I thought I was winning." Ro-Ten explained, "But you must have been pulling all your punches, because you made a big comeback using your full power. This time you won't beat me like before, though. No, I am part lava now!"

"Last time I fought alone and without any clue as to what I was doing." Joel told him, "Things are a lot different now, and I have lots of friends to back up my cause. You're just a loner."

"None of your friends have the right power to oppose mine. Your cause is useless, and when I kill you I'll add your cores to my collection!" Ro-Ten exclaimed. He stood up and revealed his weapon, the cólera esmagadora, and said, "I prefer we fought one on one anyway."

Ro-Ten let out a snap of his left hand, and a mass of obsidian shot up and wrapped around Lynn's feet, locking her feet into place on the ground. He motioned his hand in a pushing motion, and the ground underneath Lynn slid her to the back of the room inbetween two pillars of active lava.

"Hey! This wasn't what I had planned!" Lynn complained as she struggled to break her feet free.

"I'll help you out, Lynn!" Ryan exclaimed as he sprinted towards his little friend.

"Be careful!" Joel called out.

Try as he might, Ryan also found his legs and hands trapped by Ro-Ten's obsidian mold and was slid back next to Lynn.

"Sorry, man. He got me." Ryan called out to Joel as he gritted his teeth and struggled to escape with Lynn. He shook his head and said, "Damn it! I can't even use my powers with these things over my hands, or else I'd boost you with an Enhancement spell for your fight!"

"That's the whole idea, fool." Ro-Ten barked at Ryan. He turned back to Joel and asked, "Well then, where were we?"

Joel turned sharply in Ro-Ten's direction with a racing heart and said, "The part where you release my friends. Your trapping them is going to ensure I make your defeat one you'll not forget."

Ro-Ten laughed and exclaimed, "Are you forgetting the situation you're in? With my new absorbed powers I'll finally have my revenge and replace you in the top Guardian ranks!" He raised his giant pillar in the air and said, "Time to die, Zareon!"

Joel braced himself for the oncoming attack, shielding himself with his arms from the man-sized weapon. As the pillar came down over Joel, Ryan quickly lifted his Masamura from its sheath and shot it out towards his friend. Just as Ro-Ten was about to strike down Joel, Joel ducked down and spun around on his heels to catch the sword and deflected the swing away with it. Ro-Ten stepped back and lifted his weapon up for another swing, but Joel nimbly jumped up over the giant club and slashed his opponent's arm. However, Ro-Ten had activated his stone skin already, thus negating Joel's nimble attack.

The Earth Guardian's resistant skin was not seen as a means to fret and give up by the Fire Guardian, who continued on with the fight with a rapid series of attacks. He tossed Ryan's blade up into the air and then landed on his hands. Joel then repeatedly kicked Ro-Ten along his side while the man of stone recovered from his weapon swing again. Each kick pushed Ro-Ten back slightly, but it did not cause him to stumble and lose control. As the masamura came back down, Joel jumped back to his feet and caught it to deflect another oncoming attack from Ro-Ten's weapon.

The two clashed weapons several times more, and even though it took a lot of energy to manage the giant pillar weapon, Ro-Ten continued to wield it with ease and little slow down. They soon had their weapons locked together, trying to push each other back and off balance. However, this did not last for very long as Joel released his hold on the lock to remove his weapon from place and threw his fist directly into Ro-Ten's weapon. The force of the impact caused Ro-Ten to wobble and fall back, but his weapon began to break apart.

"My weapon has failed me again." Ro-Ten snarled. He threw away what remained of the giant club and said, "That doesn't matter, though, because I'm still stronger than you!" He became airborn and flew towards Joel, throwing lavaballs and stoneballs toward him, crying, "I'm faster than you!" Ro-Ten continued his forward attacks at Joel, shooting more streams of lava and rock at his enemy, and screamed, "I'm hotter than you!"

For each attack that was sent by Ro-Ten, Joel kept light on his feet and dodged them and deflected them with the Masamura. Soon enough Joel returned fire with a long stream of firebolts of his own. Ro-Ten paused his attacks for Joel's to come, but instead of evading the attacks he instead absorbed them all through his right hand. He then extended his arms and legs out as he floated in the air over Joel.

"Let me show you another new attack I've acquired, Zareon!" Ro-Ten offered Joel, "It's called Hell Scream."

The Earth Guardian's outline became surrounded then by a ring of blazing fires. A swirling blaze extended from behind him and shot out a series of missle-like lavabolts that screamed a high-pitched howl as they flew down at Joel. As the projectiles hit the ground they exploded in large skull-like formations and gave out a low ghostly howl. The attack itself sounded as if hundreds were screaming and then howling in death.

Joel watched silently through the attack and guarded himself from those that came too close, absorbing the attacks into his own just as Ro-Ten did with his. However, there was not only fire inside these attacks. Burning earth also constructed these attacks, which caused Joel to become pelted and encrusted by a thick sheet of stone. This scratched and sliced his skin deeply as Joel stood in the middle of it.

As the ground was covered in a burning cloud, Ro-Ten landed near his throne and watched for Joel. His opponent began to clear his way from inside the disaster with battered and bruised skin, but Joel had shown no signs of weakening just yet. Joel still stood strong in the middle of combat and stared down Ro-Ten, awaiting his next move. It was then that he noticed that parts of his body were starting to become stiff.

"Aah, what's going on?" Joel asked with a cringe.

"Oh, did I forget to mention? Of course I did. That's the point of the surprise!" Ro-Ten cackled in delight, "Hell Scream has a petrification component that infects your bloodstream, causing your body to slowly petrify!" His eyes gleamed with further plans for Joel as he said, "Soon you'll be just a statue at my disposal."

"We'll just see about that. Once I get through with you my body will handle the rest." Joel told him.

"Wait Joel!" Ryan called out to his friend, "That attack has been known to only be cured through magical treatments and remedies!"

Joel gasped at his friend's words, and Ro-Ten nodded and added, "I'm afraid he's right. You won't get off from this battle easily even if you did manage to win!" He extended his hand out and shot a spell towards Lynn and said, "And to make things more time crucial for you, I've also cast a similar petrification spell on your little girl friend."

Lynn shook and struggled and cried, "H, hey! What'd I ever do to you?"

"Man, what am I standing around for? I need to end this so I can save everyone!" Joel thought.

He began to feel his hands stiffen, and his fingers hardened into stone.

Ro-Ten laughed at Joel's misfortune and added, "Here's another secret, Zareon! The reason I wanted to fight in this volcano is because your metabolism gets an extra boost in heated areas like this, so you'll be stone sooner than you'll realize!"

With Joel's body becoming stone as a deadly fast rate, will he be able to take out Ro-Ten in time? Or will he fall victim to the spell and simply be crushed? And how will Lynn cope with dealing with the same situation? Does Ryan have a back up plan in mind, or will the rocks that have him bound prevent him from taking any action at all? The conclusive answer shall be revealed in the next chapter of Aeon Souls!